Re: Easily-Read C++?

[bobduff@dsd.camb.inmet.com (Bob Duff)]

In article <CyLxwF.7LK@irvine.com>, Adam Beneschan <adam@irvine.com> wrote:
>I suppose that your suggestion will work if the *only* operation you
>perform on a dynamic one-dimensional array is indexing, but quite
>frankly I can't imagine anyone wanting to write a routine that takes a
>dynamic array, uses only indexing, and doesn't use 'FIRST, 'LAST, or
>'RANGE (or pass the array on to another routine that does).

Yes, you are correct.

It is interesting to think about when a compiler could store just, say,
the address of the first element and the length (and calculate
everything else from that).  Super-null arrays cause trouble:

    X: String(100 .. -12345);

The length is zero, but Ada requires one to remember the actual bounds,
at least in some circumstances.

>Also, it should be noted that your suggestion won't work on dynamic
>two-dimensional or higher-dimensional arrays.

Correct.  In the multi-dimensional case, the indexing calculation
depends on the size of the lower dimensions.

- Bob
-- 
Bob Duff                                bobduff@inmet.com
Oak Tree Software, Inc.
Ada 9X Mapping/Revision Team (Intermetrics, Inc.)