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From: Hyman Rosen <hymie@prolifics.com>
Subject: Re: STL, Ada, C++ (Was Re: The Next Microsoft?)
Date: 2000/05/09
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Brian Rogoff <bpr@shell5.ba.best.com> writes:
> Overloading, runtime dispatching, and "use clauses" don't seem quite
> as focused on safety either. The only way that automatic instantiation 
> is troubling is that in the case of a language like C++ it is undecidable, 
> I think in standard C++ they limit the depth of template expansion
> (Hyman?) and I imagine a similar solution would be needed for Ada.  

The C++ Standard requires support for a minimum of 17 levels of templates.
The GNU compiler has a command-line argument to specify what depth you want
if you need more.

Undecidability isn't really a problem, since failure to terminate simply
means that you don't get a compiled program, as opposed to getting an
incorrect one.