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From: mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: ADA Compiling Query
Message-ID: <2765@sparko.gwu.edu>
Date: 21 Feb 91 20:40:01 GMT
References: <5572@baird.cs.strath.ac.uk#  <20600085@inmet>
Reply-To: mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu ()
Organization: The George Washington University, Washington D.C.
Lines: 27

In article <20600085@inmet#  stt@inmet.inmet.com writes:
# 
# Here are some important reasons for allowing by-copy parameter passing:
# 
# 1) It supports parameter passing between parts of a distributed
# program which don't share memory.
# 
# 2) It allows a slice of a packed array to be copied into an aligned
# temporary, rather than forcing every subprogram to handle a descriptor
# for an unaligned parameter.
# 
# 3) It allows very short arrays/records to be passed in registers
# (e.g. a packed array of 16 booleans).
# 
# 4) It is necessary when the actual parameter is in the form of a type
# conversion, and the target and source type don't have the same
# representation (e.g. one is packed and the other isn't).
# 
# S. Tucker Taft
# Intermetrics, Inc.
# Cambridge, MA  02138

I think we've come to the end of this thread. I think I started this one,
and I've read a lot of interesting network traffic on it, including some
nice private notes. I think Tucker has encapsulated the issues very well,
and I just want to thank him publicly for another enlightening summary
of an interesting language issue. Thanks!