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From: "Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.not.acm.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Community Input for the Maintenance and Revision of the Ada
 Programming Language
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2017 17:49:15 +0200
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Date: 2017-09-08T17:49:15+02:00
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On 09/06/2017 06:38 PM, Vincent DIEMUNSCH wrote:
> Le samedi 2 septembre 2017 19:08:48 UTC+2, Jeffrey R. Carter a écrit :
>>
>> What would A(+Red) mean? Indices don't have to be numeric.
> 
> But an array index needs to be isomorphic to an Integer. It's an array ! Not a dictionnary, or a hash table.

Sometimes a map (sometimes called a dictionary by languages intended for people 
not smart enough to understand "map":) is just an array.  A hash table needs 
some extra support, but is mostly an array.

But the fact remains that arrays don't have to have numeric indices. Arrays 
indexed by enumeration types are very useful. Your proposal would have to have a 
well defined meaning for them, too.

> Sure, it is not fully backward compatible. But by the way, only the absence of any evolution is 100% backward compatible, isn't it ?

Demonstrably untrue.

> :-). Ok, but the argument, always used to defend the verbose syntax of Ada, is a little bit weak, because we use high level languages precisely to write less code !

I use them to create readable, correct S/W. How many keystrokes it takes to do 
that is immaterial.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"C++: The power, elegance and simplicity of a hand grenade."
Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen
90