From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,db88d0444fafe8eb X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsread.com!news-xfer.newsread.com!news.glorb.com!newsfeeds.ihug.co.nz!ihug.co.nz!news.compaq.com!newsfeed1.sea.pnap.net!newsfeed2.sea.pnap.net!newsfeed.pnap.net!brmea-news-1.sun.com!news1nwk.sfbay.sun.com!new-usenet.uk.sun.com!not-for-mail From: Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Surprise in array concatenation Date: 14 Sep 2005 10:57:50 +0200 Organization: Sun Microsystems Message-ID: References: <1125544603.561847.32140@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <14muavojz308w.1ouv7xin79rqu$.dlg@40tude.net> <87fyspgqrm.fsf@mid.deneb.enyo.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: khepri06.norway.sun.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: new-usenet.uk.sun.com 1126688479 24812 129.159.112.195 (14 Sep 2005 09:01:19 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@new-usenet.uk.sun.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 14 Sep 2005 09:01:19 GMT User-Agent: Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) Emacs/21.2 Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4650 Date: 2005-09-14T09:01:19+00:00 List-Id: I think this is actually wrong. Run-time polymorphism (virtual functions) are fine if you what you need is to implement several versions of a function with the same signature, for example providing the same abstract interface to several different hardware devices. However, if your main type of extension is adding new operations, like handling a new message type or adding a new function to some device, they are not that useful, and enumerated types and case statements is actually cleaner and more maintainable. >>>>> writes: > I have heard it expressed at some software-oriented conferences that > enumerated types represent an old-fashioned way of thinking about > software design. Some in the OO community believe that, because > enumerated types are not extensible, they actually thwart good OO > design. > Richard Riehle -- C++: The power, elegance and simplicity of a hand grenade.