Version 1.5 of ai12s/ai12-0095-1.txt

Unformatted version of ai12s/ai12-0095-1.txt version 1.5
Other versions for file ai12s/ai12-0095-1.txt

!standard 3.10.2(27.2/3)          14-09-29 AI05-0095-1/03
!standard 4.6(24.16/2)
!standard 6.4.1(6.2/3)
!standard 12.5.1(15)
!class binding interpretation 14-02-12
!status Corrigendum 2015 14-07-11
!status ARG Approved 9-0-0 13-06-28
!status work item 14-02-12
!status received 13-12-04
!priority Medium
!difficulty Easy
!qualifier Omission
!subject Generic formal types and constrained partial views
!summary
Within a generic body, we assume the worst as to whether or not a formal subtype has a constrained partial view. In particular, we assume that untagged formal private and derived types have such a view.
!question
6.4.1(6.2/3) says:
If the formal parameter is an explicitly aliased parameter, the type of the actual parameter shall be tagged or the actual parameter shall be an aliased view of an object. Further, if the formal parameter subtype F is untagged:
* the subtype F shall statically match the nominal subtype of the actual object;
or
* the subtype F shall be unconstrained, discriminated in its full view, and
unconstrained in any partial view.
Consider applying this rule in a generic body:
generic type P (D : Natural) is private; Obj : P; package G is procedure Proc (Param : aliased in P); end G;
package body G is procedure Proc (Param : aliased in P) is ...
begin declare O1 : aliased P(1) := Obj; type AP is access all P; OAP : AP; begin Proc (O1); -- Legal? OAP := O1'access; -- Not legal. end; end G;
(Ignore the possibility of the declaration of O1 raising Constraint_Error for the moment; that has no effect on Legality.)
O1'access is not legal by 3.10.2(27.2/3), which says:
D shall be discriminated in its full view and unconstrained in any partial view, and the designated subtype of A shall be unconstrained. For the purposes of determining within a generic body whether D is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type.
The second sentence is an "assume-the-worst" rule for generic bodies, because of which the nominal subtype has to statically match in such cases.
The rules in 6.4.1(6-6.2/3) are intended to be similar, so that an aliased parameter doesn't provide a way to "launder" an object and allow it to be the prefix of 'Access when the object directly would not allow that. But for some reason, the second sentence of 3.10.2(27.2/3) didn't make it into 6.4.1(6.2/3). Perhaps that's because it was added by AI05-0041-1, so maybe it appeared later than the 6.4.1 wording.
Should this be fixed? (Yes.)
!recommendation
(See Summary.)
!wording
Delete the last sentence of 3.10.2(27.2/3):
For the purposes of determining within a generic body whether D is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type.
Add an AARM Note after 3.10.2(27.2/3), 4.6(24.16/2), and 6.4.1(6.2/3):
AARM Discussion: We assume the worst in a generic body whether or not a formal subtype has a constrained partial view; specifically, in a generic body a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type (see 12.5.1 for the formal definition of this rule).
Modify AARM 6.4.1(6.d/3):
This accessibility check (and its dynamic cousin as well) can only fail if the {master of the function call (which is defined in the Heart of Darkness, or 3.10.2 if you prefer) is different than the master directly enclosing the call}[function call is used to directly initialize a built-in-place object with a master different than that enclosing the call]. The {most likely}[only] place {where this will occur}[all of those conditions exist] is in the initializer of an allocator; in {almost} all other cases this check will [always] pass.
[Editor's note: The other semi-likely case where this could happen is when a function with an anonymous access return type is directly converted into a long-lived (probably library-level) access type. Someone (OK, me, it was one of my ARG assigned tests) wrote an ACATS test with this case as well as the one mentioned in the note, so implementers are going to be aware of it. There are also cases involving a function call whose result is immediately returned (which can't fail a static check, and there shouldn't be a dynamic check in such cases) and access discriminants (which I didn't try to analyze). These weren't included in this note so that it didn't become a novella.]
Add after 6.4.1(6.2/3):
In addition to the places where Legality Rules normally apply (see 12.3), these rules also apply in the private part of an instance of a generic unit.
Add after 12.5.1(15):
When enforcing Legality Rules, for the purposes of determining within a generic body whether a type is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type.
!discussion
It was pointed out that there is a similar rule for access type conversions in 4.6(24.16/3). This exists for the same reason - an access type conversion should not be able to "launder" an access value that could not be created directly with 'access.
Since this rule occurs (at least) 3 times in the Standard, we add a blanket rule to 12.5.1 rather than duplicating the wording in all three places. This should avoid future maintenance mistakes.
We add the generic boilerplate to 6.4.1(6.2/3). It already applies to all 3.10.2 Legality Rules for the access attribute, and it was added by AI12-0027-1 to all type conversion rules. As noted above, we want these all to work the same way.
Note that the author had (half-heartedly) proposed in AI05-0041-1 that we define the term "known to be unconstrained" for this purpose. (This would be defined as the entire 3.10.2(27.2/3) bullet.) That would be an alternative to the chosen solution, but it was rejected as it would potentially be confused with "known to be constrained". [A detailed explanation of this solution can be found in the !appendix.]
This change to the rules is incompatible for the type conversion and aliased parameter cases. In both cases, this is similar to the incompatibility introduced for the prefix of 'Access by AI05-0041-1, except that it is even less likely in these cases. For aliased parameters (new to Ada 2012), there probably isn't enough use of them for the incompatibility to be significant. For type conversions (the rule in its current form was introduced in Ada 2005), the likelihood of problems is low, as a generic formal private or derived type with discriminants is required, along with a type conversion from one access type to another with the same designated type that does not statically match.
While working on this AI, we also noticed that the AARM Note 6.4.1(6.d/3) is wrong, as "master of the function call" defines other cases where the master of the function (same as master of the return object) is not the same as the master of the execution of the call. This note probably predates the definition of "master of the function call" by AI05-0234-1; we've also corrected it.
!corrigendum 3.10.2(27.2/2)
Replace the paragraph:
by:
!corrigendum 6.4.1(6.2/3)
Insert after the paragraph:
the new paragraph:
In addition to the places where Legality Rules normally apply (see 12.3), these rules also apply in the private part of an instance of a generic unit.
!corrigendum 12.5.1(15)
Insert after the paragraph:
For a generic formal type with an unknown_discriminant_part, the actual may, but need not, have discriminants, and may be definite or indefinite.
the new paragraph:
When enforcing Legality Rules, for the purposes of determining within a generic body whether a type is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type.
!ASIS
No ASIS effect.
!ACATS test
An example like that in the Question should appear in an ACATS B-Test.
!appendix

From: Randy Brukardt
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2013  6:06 PM

I'm working on my ACATS homework, which requires me to read rules more closely
than I have in a long time.

6.4.1(6.2/3) says:

If the formal parameter is an explicitly aliased parameter, the type of the
actual parameter shall be tagged or the actual parameter shall be an aliased
view of an object. Further, if the formal parameter subtype F is untagged:

* the subtype F shall statically match the nominal subtype of the actual object;
  or

* the subtype F shall be unconstrained, discriminated in its full view, and
  unconstrained in any partial view.

Consider applying this rule in a generic body:

   generic
      type P (D : Natural) is private;
      Obj : P;
   package G is
      procedure Proc (Param : aliased in P);
   end G;

   package body G is
      procedure Proc (Param : aliased in P) is ...

   begin
       declare
          O1 : aliased P(1) := Obj;
          type AP is access all P;
          OAP : AP;
       begin
          Proc (O1); -- Legal?
          OAP := O1'access; -- Not legal.
       end;
   end G;

(Ignore the possibility of the declaration of O1 raising Constraint_Error for
the moment; that has no effect on Legality.)

O1'access is not legal by 3.10.2(27.2/3), which says:

"D shall be discriminated in its full view and unconstrained in any partial
view, and the designated subtype of A shall be unconstrained. For the purposes
of determining within a generic body whether D is unconstrained in any partial
view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view
if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal private or derived type."

The second sentence is an "assume-the-worst" rule for generic bodies, because of
which the nominal subtype has to statically match in such cases (and it's hard
to write one where it does not - it took me 15 minutes to come up with this
case).

The rules in 6.4.1(6-6.2/3) are intended to be similar, so that an aliased
parameter doesn't provide a way to "launder" an object and allow it to be the
prefix of 'Access when the object directly would not allow that. But for some
reason, the second sentence of 3.10.2(27.2/3) didn't make it into 6.4.1(6.2/3).
Perhaps that's because it was added by AI05-0041-1, so maybe it appeared later.
Or perhaps we convinced ourselves that the case was impossible (I had briefly
thought so too, until I hit on the above example).

Anyway, I think we need to add a similar sentence to 6.4.1(6.2/3):

"For the purposes of determining within a generic body whether F is
unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered to have
a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged generic formal
private or derived type."

AI05-0041-1 also added the generic boilerplate, "In addition to the places where
Legality Rules normally apply (see 12.3), these requirements apply also in the
private part of an instance of a generic unit.", which we probably want here,
too. (There is only one known case where we *don't* want the boilerplate to
apply where the rule actually could have a different effect for the generic and
the instance.)

Thoughts?

P.S. Somewhat unrelated note for the editor: the Ramification 6.4.1(6.d/3) is
wrong, as "master of the function call" defines other cases where the master of
the function = master of the return object is not the same as the master of the
execution of the call. In particular, a direct conversion of an access result
could have this property. (There is an example in my partially completed ACATS
test.) There's probably an access discriminant case as well, but those make my
head explode so I don't want to try to work that out. I think those additional
cases came after AI05-0142-4 which is why the note doesn't take them into
account -- but in any case the note ought to be fixed.

****************************************************************

From: Steve Baird
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2013  7:05 PM

> Thoughts?

I agree about the problem you've identified.

Does 4.6(24.16/2) need something similar?

Perhaps this rule should be written just once in 12.5.1 or some such place; or
perhaps we can phrase things somehow in terms of "known to be constrained"
(which handles the generic body case).

It's really ugly repeating this stuff.

I suppose 4.8(6/3) is fine, because it is effectively a dynamic semantics rule
even though it occurs in a "Static Semantics" section.

****************************************************************

From: Randy Brukardt
Sent: Wednesday, December 4, 2013  7:31 PM

...
> Does 4.6(24.16/2) need something similar?

Probably. We don't want to be allowing more in a generic body than anywhere
else, and without the assume-the-worst rule, it seems that we are. At least we
don't need the boilerplate in 4.6 -- it's already there because of AI12-0027-1.

[BTW, it's amazing that you remembered that there are other similar rules. I
only remembered the 'access one, and that was because it was the motivating
reason for the 6.4.1 rules.]

> Perhaps this rule should be written just once in 12.5.1 or some such
> place; or perhaps we can phrase things somehow in terms of "known to
> be constrained" (which handles the generic body case).
>
> It's really ugly repeating this stuff.

Yeah, I agree. "Known to be constrained" would not work in most of these cases,
which are about types, while "known to be constrained" is about (views of)
objects. (I would guess that we tried that in the past.) So wording in 12.5.1
would be best (removing the 3.10.2 wording). OTOH, we'd probably want an AARM
note pointing to 12.5.1 from each of these cases (so the question doesn't arise
again), so it wouldn't simplify the Standard that much.

Something like:

"When enforcing Legality Rules, for the purposes of determining within a generic
body whether a type is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated
subtype is considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant
of an untagged generic formal private or derived type."

But we'd still need to add the generic boilerplate to 6.4.1, after 6.4.1(6.3/3).
And remove the last sentence of 3.10.2(27.2/3). Plus an AARM note added after
3.10.2(27.2/3), 6.4.1(6.2/3), and 4.6(24.16/2):

"AARM Discussion: We assume-the-worst in a generic body whether a subtype has a
constrained partial view; in a generic body, a discriminated subtype is
considered to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an
untagged generic formal private or derived type (see 12.5.1)."

> I suppose 4.8(6/3) is fine, because it is effectively a dynamic
> semantics rule even though it occurs in a "Static Semantics" section.

Yes, I agree here too.

****************************************************************

Editor's note: The "known to be unconstrained" solution would look like:

Define "known to be unconstrained" somewhere (possibly in 3.10.2 just before
the definition of 'Access):

A subtype S is *known to be unconstrained* if the type of S is discriminated
in its full view and unconstrained in any partial view, and S is unconstrained.
For the purposes of determining within a generic body whether the type of S
is unconstrained in any partial view, a discriminated subtype is considered
to have a constrained partial view if it is a descendant of an untagged
generic formal private or derived type.

Replace the entire bullet 3.10.2(27.2/3) by:

* The designated subtype of A shall be known to be unconstrained
  (see <whereever it is defined>).

Replace 4.6(24/16/2) by:
* the designated subtype shall be known to be unconstrained
  (see <whereever it is defined>);

Replace 6.4.1(6.2/3) by:

* the subtype F shall be known to be unconstrained (see <whereever it is defined>).

[Note that these are short enough that we could fold the bullets back into a
single paragraph, but I don't think that is a great idea because it would
make this a lot harder to parse.]

The generic boilerplate would still need to be added after 6.4.1(6.2/3) and
the AARM notes would still need to be added (although with different text
for the first one).

****************************************************************

Questions? Ask the ACAA Technical Agent