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6.2.11.5 EP's Schema Types including String

Schemata are types that depend on one or more variables, called discriminants. They are an ISO 10206 Extended Pascal feature.

     type
       RealArray (n: Integer) = array [1 .. n] of Real;
       Matrix (n, m: PositiveInteger) = array [1 .. n, 1 .. m] of Integer;

The type RealArray in this example is called a Schema with the discriminant n.

To declare a variable of such a type, write:

     var
       Foo: RealArray (42);

The discriminants of every global or local schema variable are initialized at the beginning of the procedure, function or program where the schema variable is declared.

Schema-typed variables “know” about their discriminants. Discriminants can be accessed just like record fields:

     program Schema1Demo;
     type
       PositiveInteger = 1 .. MaxInt;
       RealArray (n: Integer) = array [1 .. n] of Real;
       Matrix (n, m: PositiveInteger) = array [1 .. n, 1 .. m] of Integer;
     
     var
       Foo: RealArray (42);
     
     begin
       WriteLn (Foo.n)  { yields 42 }
     end.

Schemata may be passed as parameters. While types of schema variables must always have specified discriminants (which may be other variables), formal parameters (by reference or by value) may be of a schema type without specified discriminant. In this, the actual parameter may posses any discriminant. The discriminants of the parameters get their values from the actual parameters.

Also, pointers to schema variables may be declared without a discriminant:

     program Schema2Demo;
     type
       RealArray (n: Integer) = array [1 .. n] of Real;
       RealArrayPtr = ^RealArray;
     var
       Bar: RealArrayPtr;
     begin
     end.

When applying New to such a pointer, you must specify the intended value of the discriminant as a parameter:

     New (Bar, 137)

As a GNU Pascal extension, the above can also be written as

     Bar := New (RealArrayPtr, 137)

The allocated variable behaves like any other schema variable:

     program Schema3Demo;
     type
       RealArray (n: Integer) = array [1 .. n] of Real;
       RealArrayPtr = ^RealArray;
     var
       Bar: RealArrayPtr;
       i: Integer;
     begin
       Bar := New (RealArrayPtr, 137);
       for i := 1 to Bar^.n do
         Bar^[i] := 42
     end.

Since the schema variable “knows” its size, pointers to schemata can be disposed just like other pointers:

     Dispose (Bar)

Schemata are not limited to arrays. They can be of any type that normally requires constant values in its definition, for instance subrange types, or records containing arrays etc. (Sets do not yet work.)

References to the schema discriminants are allowed, and the with statement is also allowed, so one can say:

     program SchemaWithDemo;
     type
       RealArray (n: Integer) = array [1 .. n] of Real;
     var
       MyArray: RealArray (42);
     begin
       WriteLn (MyArray.n);  { writes 42 }
       with MyArray do
         WriteLn (n);        { writes 42 }
     end.

Finally, here is a somewhat exotic example. Here, a ColoredInteger behaves just like an ordinary integer, but it has an additional property Color which can be accessed like a record field.

     program SchemaExoticDemo;
     
     type
       ColorType = (Red, Green, Blue);
       ColoredInteger (Color: ColorType) = Integer;
     
     var
       Foo: ColoredInteger (Green);
     
     begin
       Foo := 7;
       if Foo.Color = Red then
         Inc (Foo, 2)
       else
         Foo := Foo div 3
     end.

An important schema is the predefined String schema (according to Extended Pascal). It has one predefined discriminant identifier Capacity. GPC implements the String schema as follows:

     type
       String (Capacity: Cardinal) = record
         Length: 0 .. Capacity;
         Chars: packed array [1 .. Capacity + 1] of Char
       end;

The Capacity field may be directly referenced by the user, the Length field is referenced by a predefined string function Length (Str) and contains the current string length. Chars contains the chars in the string. The Chars and Length fields cannot be directly referenced by a user program.

If a formal value parameter is of type String (with or without discriminant), the actual parameter may be either a String schema, a fixed string (character array), a single character, a string literal or a string expression. If the actual parameter is a String schema, it is copied for the parameter in the usual way. If it is not a schema, a String schema is created automatically, the actual parameter is copied to the new variable and the Capacity field of the new variable is set to the length of the actual parameter.

Actual parameters to var parameters of type String must be String schemata, not string literals or character arrays.

     program StringDemo (Output);
     
     type
       SType = String (10);
       SPtr  = ^String;
     
     var
       Str : SType;
       Str2: String (100000);
       Str3: String (20) value 'string expression';
       DStr: ^String;
       ZStr: SPtr;
       Len : Integer value 256;
       Ch  : Char value 'R';
     
     { `String' accepts any length of strings }
     procedure Foo (z: String);
     begin
       WriteLn ('Capacity: ', z.Capacity);
       WriteLn ('Length  : ', Length (z));
       WriteLn ('Contents: ', z);
     end;
     
     { Another way to use dynamic strings }
     procedure Bar (SLen: Integer);
     var
       LString: String (SLen);
       FooStr: type of LString;
     begin
       LString := 'Hello world!';
       Foo (LString);
       FooStr := 'How are you?';
       Foo (FooStr);
     end;
     
     begin
       Str  := 'KUKKUU';
       Str2 := 'A longer string variable';
       New (DStr, 1000);  { Select the string Capacity with `New' }
       DStr^ := 'The maximum length of this is 1000 chars';
       New (ZStr, Len);
       ZStr^ := 'This should fit here';
       Foo (Str);
       Foo (Str2);
       Foo ('This is a constant string');
       Foo ('This is a ' + Str3);
       Foo (Ch);  { A char parameter to string routine }
       Foo ('');  { An empty string }
       Foo (DStr^);
       Foo (ZStr^);
       Bar (10000);
     end.

In the above example, the predefined procedure New was used to select the capacity of the strings. Procedure Bar also has a string whose size depends of the parameter passed to it and another string whose type will be the same as the type of the first string, using the type of construct.

All string and character types are compatible as long as the destination string is long enough to hold the source in assignments. If the source string is shorter than the destination, the destination is automatically blank padded if the destination string is not of string schema type.