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From: Natasha Kerensikova <lithiumcat@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Dereferencing and style guides
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 06:35:09 +0000 (UTC)
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Date: 2013-09-30T06:35:09+00:00
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Hello,

I have found that I often feel the to explicitly dereference access
values, using .all, even when it can be omitted, because it feels more
readable. That's especially true in portions of code that deal with
both "real" objects and access to such object.

However, I don't think I have ever met or discussed with anyone who does
not favor using .all only it is mandatory. And I haven't found any style
guide that explicitly favors one way or the other.

I think somehow I like to have my statements as context-free as
possible. So when I see Some_Variable.all I don't have to remember that
Some_Variable is actually an access value rather than a full-fledged
object.

On the other hand, I think I understand the case for syntax overloading:
I could be seen as a feature to have the same syntax (when possible) for
an access value and an object value, just like it is for array
indexation and function calls. Though I don't really subscribe to the
point of view.

So what do you think about the topic?
Are there other people here favoring non-mandatory .all?
Have I missed some guidelines and rationals discussion the question?


Thanks for your help,
Natasha