Re: Naming convention to identify functions with side effects

[Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen <ole-hjalmar.kristensen@substitute_employer_here.com>]

Yes, this works fine as long as all callers respect the calling protocol, but I
have spent countless hours tracking down bugs which come from people
*not* respecting such protocols, so I do not really like such
solutions unless you can guarantee that the resource will be released
sooner or later. 

>>>>> "GB" == Georg Bauhaus <rm.tsoh.plus-bug.bauhaus@maps.futureapps.de> writes:

    GB> Ole-Hjalmar Kristensen wrote:
    >> How would you implement the lock in youre case? I prefer not to mess
    >> around with semaphores, but use protected objects instead. In that
    >> case keeping the lock across the two calls is not so trivial.

    GB> In a simple, maybe simplistic way I'd hide the lock.

    GB> package News26 is

    GB>    subtype URL is String;

    GB>    type Web_Resource is tagged limited private;
    GB>      -- ... Observe the calling protocol, which is
    GB>      --  Load -> Is_Loaded -> Discard

    GB>    function Is_Loaded (Page: Web_Resource) return Boolean;
    GB>    procedure Load (Page: in out Web_Resource; Location: URL);
    GB>    procedure Discard (Page: in out Web_Resource);

    GB> private

    GB>    protected type Resource is
    GB>       entry Seize;
    GB>       procedure Release;
    GB>    private
    GB>       Busy: Boolean := False;
    GB>    end Resource;

    GB>    type Web_Resource is tagged limited
    GB>       record
    GB>          Lock: Resource;
    GB>          -- ...
    GB>       end record;

    GB> end News26;

    GB> Procedure Load will then Seize the Lock.

    GB> Another scheme could, I think, be using Dmitry's Page_Cache
    GB> administrating the sequencing of calls by slot-wise locking
    GB> or some such.

-- 
   C++: The power, elegance and simplicity of a hand grenade.