3.5.9 Fixed Point Types

Implementation defined: The small of an ordinary fixed point type.

Implementation defined: What combinations of small, range, and digits are supported for fixed point types.

To be honest: Or, as an obsolescent feature, a floating point subtype is permitted — see J.3.

To be honest: The conversion mentioned above is not an implicit subtype conversion (which is something that happens at overload resolution, see 4.6), although it happens implicitly. Therefore, the freezing rules are not invoked on the type (which is important so that representation items can be given for the type). {subtype conversion (bounds of a fixed point type) [partial]}

To be honest: The conversion mentioned above is not an implicit subtype conversion (which is something that happens at overload resolution, see 4.6), although it happens implicitly. Therefore, the freezing rules are not invoked on the type (which is important so that representation items can be given for the type). {subtype conversion (bounds of a decimal fixed point type) [partial]}

Discussion: Except for the requirement that the digits specified be no greater than the digits of the subtype being constrained, a digits_constraint is essentially equivalent to a range_constraint.

Consider the following example: 

The compatibility rule implies that the digits_constraint "digits 6" specifies an implicit range of "–9999.99 .. 9999.99". Thus, "digits 6" is not compatible with the constraint of D, but "digits 6 range 0.00 .. 9999.99" is compatible.

{AI95-00114-01} A value of a scalar type belongs to a constrained subtype of the type if it belongs to the range of the subtype. Attributes like Digits and Delta have no effect on this fundamental rule. So the obsolescent forms of digits_constraints and delta_constraints that are called “accuracy constraints” in RM83 don't really represent constraints on the values of the subtype, but rather primarily affect compatibility of the “constraint” with the subtype being “constrained.” In this sense, they might better be called “subtype assertions” rather than “constraints.”

Note that the digits_constraint on a decimal fixed point subtype is a combination of an assertion about the digits of the subtype being further constrained, and a constraint on the range of the subtype being defined, either explicit or implicit.

Reason: This is sufficient to represent Standard.Duration with a small no more than 50 milliseconds. 

Implementation Note: The accuracy requirements for multiplication, division, and conversion (see G.2.1, “Model of Floating Point Arithmetic”) are such that support for arbitrary smalls should be practical without undue implementation effort. Therefore, implementations should support fixed point types with arbitrary values for small (within reason). One reasonable limitation would be to limit support to fixed point types that can be converted to the most precise floating point type without loss of precision (so that Fixed_IO is implementable in terms of Float_IO). 

{inconsistencies with Ada 83} In Ada 95, S'Small always equals S'Base'Small, so if an implementation chooses a small for a fixed point type smaller than required by the delta, the value of S'Small in Ada 95 might not be the same as it was in Ada 83. 

{extensions to Ada 83} Decimal fixed point types are new, though their capabilities are essentially similar to that available in Ada 83 with a fixed point type whose small equals its delta equals a power of 10. However, in the Information Systems Annex, additional requirements are placed on the support of decimal fixed point types (e.g. a minimum of 18 digits of precision). 

The syntax rules for fixed_point_constraint and fixed_accuracy_definition are removed. The syntax rule for fixed_point_definition is new. A syntax rule for delta_constraint is included in the Obsolescent features (to be compatible with Ada 83's fixed_point_constraint). 

{AI95-00100-01} Added wording to define the machine numbers of fixed point types; this is needed by the static evaluation rules.