Re: advice on package design

[Robert A Duff <bobduff@shell01.TheWorld.com>]

"Martin Dowie" <martin.dowie@baesystems.com> writes:

> Robert A Duff wrote:
> >> I've never understood why this needs to be this way...
> >
> > Because I2 is visible in the handler.  But it's declaration is never
> > successfully elaborated, so it does not exist!
> >
> > procedure P is
> >     X: Integer := F(...); -- raises Some_Error
> >     Y: Integer := 123;
> > begin
> >     ...
> > exception
> >     when Some_Error =>
> >         Put(X); Put(Y); -- What are the values of X and Y here?
> > end P;
> 
> And we couldn't have come up with some form of words to get
> round that?!?!?!?! :-)

It's not a wording issue.  It just doesn't make any sense to allow code
to refer to variables that do not exist.

What's needed is a syntax that better reflects the semantics.
It was a mistake in Ada 83 to attach handlers to scope-y things.

- Bob