CVS difference for acs/ac-00060.txt

--- acs/ac-00060.txt	2003/07/26 03:26:00	1.1
+++ acs/ac-00060.txt	2003/09/30 02:01:10	1.2
@@ -1,189 +1,13 @@
-!standard C.8(01)                                      03-07-25  AC95-00060/01
+!standard 13.14(05)                                    03-09-29  AC95-00060/02
 !class amendment 03-07-22
 !status received no action 03-07-22
 !status received 03-04-14
-!subject Relaxed freezing rules for generic instantiations
+!subject (deleted)
 
 !summary
 
 !appendix
 
-From: Tucker Taft
-Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003  5:50 PM
-
-I talked about this AI a bit with Pascal in Padua.
-Here is a first cut at it.  The basic idea is to
-relax the freezing rules associated with generic
-instantiations, so signatures can actually be used
-in a reasonable way.
-
----
-
-!standard 13.14     (05)           03-02-12  AI95-<<melting_instantiations>>/01
-!class amendment 03-02-12
-!status work item 03-02-12
-!status received 03-02-12
-!priority Medium
-!difficulty Medium
-!subject Deferring Freezing of a Generic Instantiation
-
-!summary
-
-To better support generic signature packages, and
-mutually dependent types that involve generic instantiations,
-it is proposed that a generic instantiation not cause
-freezing immediately if any of its actual parameters
-are types that have not been completely defined.
-
-For such an instantiation, no special freezing happens
-at the point of the instantiation, other than the freezing
-that is due to the elaboration of the declarations within
-the "spec" of the instantiation.   Elaboration of the body
-of the instantiation is deferred until a "general" freezing
-point occurs, which occurs at the end of the enclosing
-library unit or declarative part, upon encountering a "real" body, etc.
-
-NOTE: This more "relaxed" freezing and deferred body elaboration
-could be used for all generic instantiations, but that could
-create some incompatibilities, since we would be altering
-the point when the body of the instantiation was elaborated.
-This proposal is guaranteed to be upward compatible, since
-only instantiations that are currently illegal would be
-using "relaxed" freezing and deferred body elaboration.
-
-!problem
-
-Ada 95 provides formal package parameters.  One way of using
-these parameters is to define a "signature" for a class of abstractions,
-such as all set abstractions, or all physical unit abstractions, and
-then build a new generic abstraction on top of the original
-class of abstractions using this signature as the template for
-a formal package parameter.
-
-Unfortunately, it is difficult to use signatures because
-of the fact that an instantiation freezes all of its
-actual parameters.
-
-For example:
-
-  Given the signature for a set abstraction:
-
-    generic
-	type Element is private;
-	type Set is private;
-	with function Size(Of_Set : Set) return Natural is <>;
-	with function Union(Left, Right : Set) return Set is <>;
-	with function Intersection(Left, Right : Set) return Set is <>;
-	with function Empty return Set is <>;
-	with function Unit_Set(With_Item : Element) return Set is <>;
-	with function Nth_Element(Of_Set : Set) return Element is <>;
-    package Set_Signature is end;
-
-  ... we could define a generic that required some set
-  abstraction, but it didn't care which one so long
-  as it implemented the above signature:
-
-    generic
-	with package Base_Set is new Set_Signature(<>);
-    package Layered_Abstraction is
-	type Cool_Type(Set : access Base_Set.Set) is limited_private;
-	procedure Massage(CT : in out Cool_Type; New_Set : Base_Set.Set);
-        ...
-
-    end Layered_Abstraction;
-
-  Now if we want to define a set type and provide the pre-instantiated
-  signature for it, we run into trouble:
-
-    generic
-	type Elem is private;
-	with function Hash(El : Elem) return Integer;
-    package Hashed_Sets is
-	type Set is private;
-	function Union(Left, Right : Set) return Set;
-	...
-
-	package Signature is new Set_Signature(Elem, Set);
-    private
-	type Set is record
-	   ...
-	end record;
-    end Hashed_Sets;
-
-The problem is that we can't do the instantiation of Set_Signature
-where we would want to do so, because the instantiation freezes
-the type "Set" prematurely.
-
-[For an extended example of use of signatures, see the physical
-units AI (AI-00324).]
-
-A similar problem occurs when a type wants to include a pointer
-to a container based on the type being defined.  For example:
-
-    package Expressions is
-	type Expr_Ref is private;
-
-	package Expr_Sequences is new Sequences(Expr_Ref);
-	    -- Freezing trouble here!
-	type Seq_Of_Expr is access Expr_Sequences.Sequence;
-
-	function Operands(Expr : Expr_Ref) return Seq_Of_Expr;
-
-	...
-
-   private
-	type Expression;  -- completion deferred to body
-	type Expr_Ref is access Expression;
-
-   end Expressions;
-
-Here we have a case where we want to instantiate a generic
-using a private type, and use the results of the instantiation
-as the designated type of an access type, which is in turn
-used as a parameter or result type of an operation on the
-private type.
-
-Unfortunately, we can't instantiate the "Sequences" generic
-with Expr_Ref, since it is private.
-
-!proposal
-
-(See summary.)
-
-!wording
-
-(See summary.)
-
-!example
-
-(See problem.)
-
-!discussion
-
-Signature packages can be a very useful feature, but
-if they can't be instantiated in the generic that defines
-the abstraction, they become of much less use.
-
-Generics in general can be very useful, but the freezing
-rules mean that they are not as powerful as cut-and-paste,
-since they can't be applied to private types before
-the private type is completely defined.
-
-This proposal makes it possible for a generic instantiation
-to be used in more places than before, since it can
-be used with a private type before the type is completely
-defined.  As things stand now, it is often necessary to
-completely restructure things to be able to use a generic
-container as part of defining a private type.
-
-!appendix
-
-****************************************************************
-
-From: Robert A Duff
-Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003  7:09 PM
-
-As a user of Ada, I would find this relaxation of the freezing rules to
-be of *huge* benefit.
+This was promoted to AI-00359.
 
 ****************************************************************