Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!cbmvax!uunet!pdn!alan
From: alan@pdn.UUCP (Alan Lovejoy)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2
Subject: Re: more about ORD and VAL
Message-ID: <3650@pdn.UUCP>
Date: 6 Jul 88 15:08:50 GMT
References: <3638@pdn.UUCP> <8807051419.AA05623@banzai-inst.sw.mcc.com>
Reply-To: alan@pdn.UUCP (0000-Alan Lovejoy)
Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo, Florida
Lines: 19

In article <8807051419.AA05623@banzai-inst.sw.mcc.com> Info-Modula2 Distribution List  writes:
>This still leaves me wondering what a "meaning-preserving" conversion is for
>    CAST(CARDINAL, -1)
>What value would you expect to get back?
>--Alan Wexelblat
>ARPA: WEX@MCC.COM
>UUCP: {harvard, gatech, pyramid, &c.}!sally!im4u!milano!wex

According to Barry Cornelius's posting on the subject, the BSI proposal
currently on the table is "CONVERT(CARDINAL, -1)" as the syntax for a
"meaning-preserving" conversion.  In this case the "value" is an
exception.  What an "exception" is, is formally undefined.  It is expected to
be either a no-op, a program abort or a trap to a debugging tool.

-- 
Alan Lovejoy; alan@pdn; 813-530-8241; Paradyne Corporation: Largo, Florida.
Disclaimer: Do not confuse my views with the official views of Paradyne
            Corporation (regardless of how confusing those views may be).
Motto: Never put off to run-time what you can do at compile-time!