Version 1.1 of ai12s/ai12-0199-1.txt
!standard 7.3.2(5/4) 16-07-21 AI12-0199-1/01
!class binding interpretation 16-07-21
!status work item 16-07-21
!status received 16-06-11
!priority Low
!difficulty Hard
!qualifier Omission
!subject Abstract subprogram calls in class-wide invariant expressions
!summary
** TBD:
!question
Consider:
package Pkg is
type Ifc is interface
with Type_Invariant'Class => F1 (Ifc);
function F1 (X : Ifc) return Boolean is abstract;
end Pkg;
Does the call to F1 violate the rule against non-dispatching calls to abstract
subprograms?
(No, because aspect re-interpreted using notional, non-abstract descendant)
!recommendation
(See Summary.)
!wording
Modify 7.3.2(5/4):
Within an invariant expression, the identifier of the first subtype of the
associated type denotes the current instance of the type. Within an invariant
expression for the Type_Invariant aspect of a type T, the type of this current
instance is T. Within an invariant expression for the Type_Invariant'Class
aspect of a type T, the type of this current instance is interpreted as though
it had a (notional) {nonabstract} type NT that is a visible formal derived
type whose ancestor type is T. The effect of this interpretation is that the
only operations that can be applied to this current instance are those defined
for such a formal derived type.
** TBD: We don't have any rules like 6.1.1(18-18.2/4) for type invariants; we
never define the "corresponding expression". We may need to do that, as
components are directly visible in this expression as well as the type itself.
And we do need a rule like 6.1.1(18.2/4), as class-wide type invariants can be
specified on and apply to abstract types. Thus, the Bairdian example can be
constructed for this case as well:
package Pkg2 is
type T is tagged null record
with Type_Invariant'Class => Is_OK (X); --
function Is_Ok (X : T) return Boolean;
procedure Proc (X : in out T);
end Pkg2;
A call on Proc will make invariant checks on the value of X.
with Pkg2;
package Pkg3 is
type NT is abstract new Pkg2.T null record;
--
function Is_Ok (X : NT) return Boolean is abstract;
--
end Pkg3;
A call on the (concrete) inherited Proc will try to make invariant checks,
which will call the abstract Is_OK. That won't work.
Note that a statically bound call on Pkg3.Proc can be created by type
converting an object of a descendant type of NT to type NT.
?? Perhaps the rule would need to be contingent on the existence of
concrete routines of the type with the class-wide invariant in the package
specification? Else any class-wide invariant of an interface would be illegal,
which we surely don't want. Nor would we want the typical case of all abstract
routines being illegal. So maybe the new rule ought to be written in terms of
any concrete subprograms with parameters of the type being illegal in the
package spec. But is that enough? There are lots of weird invariant checks that
occur outside of the package (type conversions for one). Glad I'm not writing
this AI.
** End TBD. (Perhaps move this to the discussion??)
!discussion
** TBD.
!ASIS
No ASIS effect.
!ACATS test
An ACATS B-Test should be created to check the examples (if they aren't
already covered).
!appendix
From: Randy Brukardt
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 8:04 PM
In creating the mostly empty template for this AI from the type invariant part
of AI12-0170-1, I have some rather pithy thoughts on the problem that I thought
I would share, in large part because we probably need some Bairdian examples in
order to chose a rule (Luckily, this AI isn't assigned to me, so I don't have
to come up with a rule.)
The basic problem is that we have two conflicting requirements:
(1) We want to be able to specify class-wide type invariants on abstract
(tagged) types. Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible to define an invariant for
an interface, and we definitely wanted to do that enough that we have a
separate AI for the purpose.
This would look like:
package Pkg is
type Ifc is interface
with Type_Invariant'Class => F1 (Ifc); -- Better be legal.
function F1 (X : Ifc) return Boolean is abstract;
end Pkg;
(2) But it cannot be the case that an actual class-wide type invariant check
calls an abstract function (for obvious reasons).
I can show the problem for the second by using a modification of Steve's
original precondition example:
package Pkg2 is
type T is tagged null record
with Type_Invariant'Class => Is_OK (X); -- OK.
function Is_Ok (X : T) return Boolean;
procedure Proc (X : in out T);
end Pkg2;
A call on Proc will make invariant checks on the value of X.
with Pkg2;
package Pkg3 is
type NT is abstract new Pkg2.T null record;
-- inherits Type_Invariant'Class => Is_OK (X); -- ??
function Is_Ok (X : NT) return Boolean is abstract;
-- inherits Proc.
end Pkg3;
A call like:
Pkg3.Proc (Pkg3.NT(Obj));
is legal and raises no exceptions if Obj has a concrete type that is
descended from type NT. But in this case, we will make a class-wide type
invariant check that will call Pkg3.Is_OK, which is abstract. Bang!
(Note that abstract subprograms can only be written on abstract types in this
case, so we do have some limits.)
The straighforward version of the 6.1.1(18.2/4) rule would be something like:
A non-abstract type T is illegal if corresponding expression for a
Type_Invariant'Class or Post'Class aspect would be illegal.
But that doesn't fix the bug (NT is abstract in the example above). And
dropping "non-abstract" runs afoul of (1) above: it would make all invariants
of interfaces illegal.
It seems easy enough to craft a rule to plug this particular bug:
If the corresponding class-wide invariant expression for an abstract type
T contains a call to an abstract routine, then there cannot be any
non-abstract subprograms in the immediately enclosing scope (including in
nested scopes) that have a parameter with a part of T.
But that has issues:
* It only covers one possible way for a type invariant check to be triggered.
There are 21 paragraphs regarding such checks! I especially worry about the
view conversion checks.
* It doesn't cover any future issues, like 6.1.1(18.2/4) does. If we discover
an example of a problem with accessibility of a coextension, 6.1.1(18.2/4)
will cover it, as it just talks about the legality of the expression. The
above only covers calling abstract routines.
Luckily, I don't have to solve this problem, Tucker does. ;-) And I'm sure
Steve can cook up some juicy new problems.
At least type invariants are much less useful than the 3 P's, so any loss of
functionality will hardly be noticed.
****************************************************************
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