Re: Improving Ada's image - Was: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics

["Dr. Adrian Wrigley" <amtw@linuxchip.demon.co.uk.uk.uk>]

On Sat, 19 Jun 2004 16:54:14 -0400, Robert I. Eachus wrote:

> I do think it is a shame though that Ada returns the upper case version 
> of the name, not the spelling used to declare the type...

I strongly agree with this view!

It is an enormous extra effort to get the case right when outputting
an enumeration in a program.  In particular, you probably end up
having to declare and pass "To_String" functions as additional
parameters to generic packages etc., simply to get the casing right.

When you don't go to the effort of fixing up the case, and just
ouput all upper case, it makes it look like software from the '70s.

Is it not possible to do *something* about this irksome (if minor)
feature for the upcoming 200Y compilers.  Maybe a Representation
clause?  An additional attribute?  A compiler option? A pragma?
It seems like such a minor amount of work to fix this!

Would the incompatibility be unnacceptable (to 200Y) simply to state that
the case of Enum'Image is exactly as in the declaration.
It could break certain (odd) programs, but that is what the -95 switch
is there for.

I could post some examples where getting the case wrong is
particularly bad - but you can probably make up some of your own.
-- 
Adrian Wrigley, Cambridge, UK.