Re: Proposal: Auto-allocation of Indefinite Objects

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On 2020-04-04 00:48, Stephen Davies wrote:

> It is the 3rd reason that initially got me thinking about this.
> It seems excessive to have two versions of packages just because
> one version can say "Node.Item := New_Item;" but the other has to say
> "Node.Item_Ptr := new Element_Type'(New_Item);".

This is another issue, IMO. The language should support interface 
inheritance:

    type Node_Item_Inteface is ...;

    type Static_Node_Item is
       new Node_Item_Inteface with record ...

    type Dynamic_Node_Item is
       new Node_Item_Inteface with access Some_Implementation;

Implementation of an interface per access type.

> It's probably not a good idea for auto-allocation to be the default
> behaviour, so I suggest something like:
> 
>     type Node_Type is record
>        Item : new Element_Type;
>        Prev : Node_Ptr_Type;
>        Next : Node_Ptr_Type;
>     end record;
> 
> If Element_Type is a definite type in the instantiation then
> Node.Item will be a normal object of that type. Otherwise, it is
> implemented as a pointer but the code still treats it as an object.
> The target of the pointer is allocated on assignment of the object.
> The pointer cannot be copied to any other object. Assignments of the
> whole record will perform a deep-copy of the auto-allocated component.
> The target of the Node.Item pointer can be auto-deallocated when Node
> goes out of scope or is deallocated.
> 
> Ok, I've probably missed something obvious and have been wasting my
> time, but at least I've got plenty of time to waste at the moment.

This looks interesting to me. There is a huge number of cases I am using 
this schema, especially when Item is initialized once.

The major advantage is of course in having a plain String instead of 
Unbounded_String. No conversions, no space/time penalties. I refrain 
using Unbounded_String as much as possible.

Also there must be a possibility to specify the pool of Item. I 
frequently place things like Node_Type into an arena pool, soI want the 
string going there as well. Another case is marshaling such objects, so 
that the body of Item would not be left behind.

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