From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.6 (2021-04-09) on
	ip-172-31-65-14.ec2.internal
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.2 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,NICE_REPLY_A,
	T_SCC_BODY_TEXT_LINE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.6
Path: eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Parameterised 'Image Attributes
Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2023 12:58:23 +0200
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID: <uchukd$1lnvp$1@dont-email.me>
References: <ubn5un$5tvt$1@dont-email.me> <ubn9u8$6fup$1@dont-email.me>
 <ubq15l$oa8i$1@dont-email.me> <kkca55F9sn7U1@mid.individual.net>
 <ubsf4e$19bvo$1@dont-email.me> <ubsn75$1a024$2@dont-email.me>
 <uc0sae$23f5l$1@dont-email.me> <uc1qnq$2anmi$2@dont-email.me>
 <4c861cba-9ad6-429d-b530-a40c45dfc176n@googlegroups.com>
 <uc5bc8$3072a$1@dont-email.me>
 <d75e72ad-0f5b-49c3-8cbf-630136a8a7a5n@googlegroups.com>
 <uc9l2b$3u0pe$1@dont-email.me>
 <41ae24fb-793e-4bb7-9086-c8923ddc5d9dn@googlegroups.com>
 <uca8pu$1lse$1@dont-email.me>
 <ad349fba-9bf9-4a3c-9abb-7e082bd8ef7an@googlegroups.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Mon, 28 Aug 2023 10:58:21 -0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="5a879763e13e5c6e904f542db0b53b64";
	logging-data="1761273"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+/uMcvM6SaByn6h9UzBOP0/q8deux77MU="
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101
 Thunderbird/102.14.0
Cancel-Lock: sha1:ULq6BPf+uRm21BXvR5XVUBZooIM=
In-Reply-To: <ad349fba-9bf9-4a3c-9abb-7e082bd8ef7an@googlegroups.com>
Content-Language: en-US
Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:65566
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

On 2023-08-28 11:18, Stephen Davies wrote:

> I did read Randy's response, he explained the difficulty in adding
> parameters to 'Image,

He rather explained that this will never happen... (:-))

There is no good reason why attributes should not have the same 
parameter syntax as subprograms and entry calls. Neither there is one 
why 'Image must be a non-overridable attribute or why different classes 
of types must have same parameter lists in their 'Image.

> so I suggested an alternative parameter-less
> attribute. You could allow the output of this attribute to be
> configurable by either some package data (c.f. Text_IO.Default_Width)
> and/or by the OS. To be honest, all I really want is an attribute that
> any Ada program can use to get a string suitable for output to its
> users, i.e no leading space and exponentiation only used when needed.

This will not happen either. But here I would agree, it is clearly a 
case of language littering.

However see the GNAT-specific 'Img attribute. For debugging purposes it 
does not add space where 'Image also for debugging purposes adds! (:-))

As Chairman Mao used to say: "In a word, while the prospects are bright, 
the road has twists and turns." (:-))

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de