Annex N
(informative)
Glossary
1/2 This Annex contains informal descriptions of some of the terms used in
this International Standard. The index provides references to more formal
definitions of all of the terms used in this International Standard.
1.1/2 Abstract type. An abstract type is a tagged type intended for use as an
ancestor of other types, but which is not allowed to have objects of its own.
2 Access type. An access type has values that designate aliased objects.
Access types correspond to "pointer types" or "reference types" in some other
languages.
3 Aliased. An aliased view of an object is one that can be designated by an
access value. Objects allocated by allocators are aliased. Objects can also be
explicitly declared as aliased with the reserved word aliased. The Access
attribute can be used to create an access value designating an aliased object.
3.1/2 Ancestor. An ancestor of a type is the type itself or, in the case of a
type derived from other types, its parent type or one of its progenitor types
or one of their ancestors. Note that ancestor and descendant are inverse
relationships.
4 Array type. An array type is a composite type whose components are all of
the same type. Components are selected by indexing.
4.1/3 Aspect. An aspect is a specifiable property of an entity. An aspect may
be specified by an aspect_specification on the declaration of the entity. Some
aspects may be queried via attributes.
4.2/3 Assertion. An assertion is a boolean expression that appears in any of
the following: a pragma Assert, a predicate, a precondition, a postcondition,
an invariant, a constraint, or a null exclusion. An assertion is expected to
be True at run time at certain specified places.
4.3/2 Category (of types). A category of types is a set of types with one or
more common properties, such as primitive operations. A category of types that
is closed under derivation is also known as a class.
5 Character type. A character type is an enumeration type whose values
include characters.
6/2 Class (of types). A class is a set of types that is closed under
derivation, which means that if a given type is in the class, then all types
derived from that type are also in the class. The set of types of a class
share common properties, such as their primitive operations.
7 Compilation unit. The text of a program can be submitted to the compiler
in one or more compilations. Each compilation is a succession of
compilation_units. A compilation_unit contains either the declaration, the
body, or a renaming of a program unit.
8/2 Composite type. A composite type may have components.
9 Construct. A construct is a piece of text (explicit or implicit) that is
an instance of a syntactic category defined under "Syntax".
9.1/3 Container. A container is an object that contain other objects all of
the same type, which could be class-wide. Several predefined container types
are provided by the children of package Ada.Containers (see A.18.1).
10 Controlled type. A controlled type supports user-defined assignment and
finalization. Objects are always finalized before being destroyed.
11 Declaration. A declaration is a language construct that associates a name
with (a view of) an entity. A declaration may appear explicitly in the program
text (an explicit declaration), or may be supposed to occur at a given place
in the text as a consequence of the semantics of another construct (an
implicit declaration).
12/2 This paragraph was deleted.
13/2 Derived type. A derived type is a type defined in terms of one or more
other types given in a derived type definition. The first of those types is
the parent type of the derived type and any others are progenitor types. Each
class containing the parent type or a progenitor type also contains the
derived type. The derived type inherits properties such as components and
primitive operations from the parent and progenitors. A type together with the
types derived from it (directly or indirectly) form a derivation class.
13.1/2 Descendant. A type is a descendant of itself, its parent and progenitor
types, and their ancestors. Note that descendant and ancestor are inverse
relationships.
14 Discrete type. A discrete type is either an integer type or an enumeration
type. Discrete types may be used, for example, in case_statements and as array
indices.
15/2 Discriminant. A discriminant is a parameter for a composite type. It can
control, for example, the bounds of a component of the type if the component
is an array. A discriminant for a task type can be used to pass data to a task
of the type upon creation.
15.1/2 Elaboration. The process by which a declaration achieves its run-time
effect is called elaboration. Elaboration is one of the forms of execution.
16 Elementary type. An elementary type does not have components.
17 Enumeration type. An enumeration type is defined by an enumeration of its
values, which may be named by identifiers or character literals.
17.1/2 Evaluation. The process by which an expression achieves its run-time
effect is called evaluation. Evaluation is one of the forms of execution.
18 Exception. An exception represents a kind of exceptional situation; an
occurrence of such a situation (at run time) is called an exception
occurrence. To raise an exception is to abandon normal program execution so as
to draw attention to the fact that the corresponding situation has arisen.
Performing some actions in response to the arising of an exception is called
handling the exception.
19 Execution. The process by which a construct achieves its run-time effect
is called execution. Execution of a declaration is also called elaboration.
Execution of an expression is also called evaluation.
19.1/2 Function. A function is a form of subprogram that returns a result and
can be called as part of an expression.
20 Generic unit. A generic unit is a template for a (nongeneric) program
unit; the template can be parameterized by objects, types, subprograms, and
packages. An instance of a generic unit is created by a
generic_instantiation. The rules of the language are enforced when a generic
unit is compiled, using a generic contract model; additional checks are
performed upon instantiation to verify the contract is met. That is, the
declaration of a generic unit represents a contract between the body of the
generic and instances of the generic. Generic units can be used to perform the
role that macros sometimes play in other languages.
20.1/2 Incomplete type. An incomplete type gives a view of a type that reveals
only some of its properties. The remaining properties are provided by the full
view given elsewhere. Incomplete types can be used for defining recursive data
structures.
20.2/3 Indexable container type. An indexable container type is one that has
user-defined behavior for indexing, via the Constant_Indexing or
Variable_Indexing aspects.
21 Integer type. Integer types comprise the signed integer types and the
modular types. A signed integer type has a base range that includes both
positive and negative numbers, and has operations that may raise an exception
when the result is outside the base range. A modular type has a base range
whose lower bound is zero, and has operations with "wraparound" semantics.
Modular types subsume what are called "unsigned types" in some other languages.
21.1/2 Interface type. An interface type is a form of abstract tagged type
which has no components or concrete operations except possibly null
procedures. Interface types are used for composing other interfaces and tagged
types and thereby provide multiple inheritance. Only an interface type can be
used as a progenitor of another type.
21.2/4 Invariant. An invariant is an assertion that is expected to be True for
all objects of a given private type when viewed from outside the defining
package.
21.3/3 Iterable container type. An iterable container type is one that has
user-defined behavior for iteration, via the Default_Iterator and
Iterator_Element aspects.
21.4/3 Iterator. An iterator is a construct that is used to loop over the
elements of an array or container. Iterators may be user defined, and may
perform arbitrary computations to access elements from a container.
22 Library unit. A library unit is a separately compiled program unit, and is
always a package, subprogram, or generic unit. Library units may have other
(logically nested) library units as children, and may have other program units
physically nested within them. A root library unit, together with its children
and grandchildren and so on, form a subsystem.
23/2 Limited type. A limited type is a type for which copying (such as in an
assignment_statement) is not allowed. A nonlimited type is a type for which
copying is allowed.
24 Object. An object is either a constant or a variable. An object contains a
value. An object is created by an object_declaration or by an allocator. A
formal parameter is (a view of) an object. A subcomponent of an object is an
object.
24.1/2 Overriding operation. An overriding operation is one that replaces an
inherited primitive operation. Operations may be marked explicitly as
overriding or not overriding.
25 Package. Packages are program units that allow the specification of groups
of logically related entities. Typically, a package contains the declaration
of a type (often a private type or private extension) along with the
declarations of primitive subprograms of the type, which can be called from
outside the package, while their inner workings remain hidden from outside
users.
25.1/2 Parent. The parent of a derived type is the first type given in the
definition of the derived type. The parent can be almost any kind of type,
including an interface type.
26 Partition. A partition is a part of a program. Each partition consists of
a set of library units. Each partition may run in a separate address space,
possibly on a separate computer. A program may contain just one partition. A
distributed program typically contains multiple partitions, which can execute
concurrently.
26.1/3 Postcondition. A postcondition is an assertion that is expected to be
True when a given subprogram returns normally.
27 Pragma. A pragma is a compiler directive. There are language-defined
pragmas that give instructions for optimization, listing control, etc. An
implementation may support additional (implementation-defined) pragmas.
27.1/3 Precondition. A precondition is an assertion that is expected to be
True when a given subprogram is called.
27.2/3 Predicate. A predicate is an assertion that is expected to be True for
all objects of a given subtype.
28 Primitive operations. The primitive operations of a type are the
operations (such as subprograms) declared together with the type declaration.
They are inherited by other types in the same class of types. For a tagged
type, the primitive subprograms are dispatching subprograms, providing
run-time polymorphism. A dispatching subprogram may be called with statically
tagged operands, in which case the subprogram body invoked is determined at
compile time. Alternatively, a dispatching subprogram may be called using a
dispatching call, in which case the subprogram body invoked is determined at
run time.
29/2 Private extension. A private extension is a type that extends another
type, with the additional properties hidden from its clients.
30/2 Private type. A private type gives a view of a type that reveals only
some of its properties. The remaining properties are provided by the full view
given elsewhere. Private types can be used for defining abstractions that hide
unnecessary details from their clients.
30.1/2 Procedure. A procedure is a form of subprogram that does not return a
result and can only be called by a statement.
30.2/2 Progenitor. A progenitor of a derived type is one of the types given in
the definition of the derived type other than the first. A progenitor is
always an interface type. Interfaces, tasks, and protected types may also have
progenitors.
31 Program. A program is a set of partitions, each of which may execute in a
separate address space, possibly on a separate computer. A partition consists
of a set of library units.
32 Program unit. A program unit is either a package, a task unit, a protected
unit, a protected entry, a generic unit, or an explicitly declared subprogram
other than an enumeration literal. Certain kinds of program units can be
separately compiled. Alternatively, they can appear physically nested within
other program units.
33/2 Protected type. A protected type is a composite type whose components are
accessible only through one of its protected operations which synchronize
concurrent access by multiple tasks.
34 Real type. A real type has values that are approximations of the real
numbers. Floating point and fixed point types are real types.
35 Record extension. A record extension is a type that extends another type
by adding additional components.
36 Record type. A record type is a composite type consisting of zero or more
named components, possibly of different types.
36.1/3 Reference type. A reference type is one that has user-defined behavior
for ".all", defined by the Implicit_Dereference aspect.
36.2/2 Renaming. A renaming_declaration is a declaration that does not define
a new entity, but instead defines a view of an existing entity.
37 Scalar type. A scalar type is either a discrete type or a real type.
37.1/3 Storage pool. Each access-to-object type has an associated storage pool
object. The storage for an object created by an allocator comes from the
storage pool of the type of the allocator. Some storage pools may be
partitioned into subpools in order to support finer-grained storage management.
37.2/3 Stream. A stream is a sequence of elements that can be used, along with
the stream-oriented attributes, to support marshalling and unmarshalling of
values of most types.
37.3/2 Subprogram. A subprogram is a section of a program that can be executed
in various contexts. It is invoked by a subprogram call that may qualify the
effect of the subprogram through the passing of parameters. There are two
forms of subprograms: functions, which return values, and procedures, which do
not.
38/3 Subtype. A subtype is a type together with optional constraints, null
exclusions, and predicates, which constrain the values of the subtype to
satisfy certain conditions. The values of a subtype are a subset of the values
of its type.
38.1/2 Synchronized. A synchronized entity is one that will work safely with
multiple tasks at one time. A synchronized interface can be an ancestor of a
task or a protected type. Such a task or protected type is called a
synchronized tagged type.
39 Tagged type. The objects of a tagged type have a run-time type tag, which
indicates the specific type with which the object was originally created. An
operand of a class-wide tagged type can be used in a dispatching call; the tag
indicates which subprogram body to invoke. Nondispatching calls, in which the
subprogram body to invoke is determined at compile time, are also allowed.
Tagged types may be extended with additional components.
40/2 Task type. A task type is a composite type used to represent active
entities which execute concurrently and which can communicate via queued task
entries. The top-level task of a partition is called the environment task.
41/2 Type. Each object has a type. A type has an associated set of values, and
a set of primitive operations which implement the fundamental aspects of its
semantics. Types are grouped into categories. Most language-defined categories
of types are also classes of types.
41.1/4 Type Invariant. See Invariant.
42/2 View. A view of an entity reveals some or all of the properties of the
entity. A single entity may have multiple views.
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