Re: Introductory Ada Programming Book

["Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.not.acm.org>]

On 01/04/2017 02:44 PM, raph.amiard@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> type Vector is array(integer range<>) of float;
>> These are a little bit deceptive. They don't represent an array which
>> can change in size; they represent an array whose size is not known by
>> the type system. They're implemented via a combination of fat pointers
>> and fixed-size arrays, depending on context. They can be used as a
>> shortcut in declaring variables, but they're mostly useful as parameters.
>
> I'm not sure what is incorrect here.

"They're implemented via a combination of fat pointers and fixed-size arrays" is 
wrong. It's not clear what "They" refers to; it seems to refer to the type, but 
types aren't implemented, so it probably refers to objects of the type. But such 
objects are not "implemented via a combination of fat pointers [which don't 
exist in Ada] and fixed-size arrays".

Also, "they're mostly useful as parameters" would seem to imply that type String 
is not very useful except as parameters, which is certainly not my experience.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Why, the Mayflower was full of Fireflies, and a few
horseflies, too. The Fireflies were on the upper deck,
and the horseflies were on the Fireflies."
Duck Soup
95