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A.18.7 Sets

1/2
{AI95-00302-03} The language-defined generic packages Containers.Hashed_Sets and Containers.Ordered_Sets provide private types Set and Cursor, and a set of operations for each type. A set container allows elements of an arbitrary type to be stored without duplication. A hashed set uses a hash function to organize elements, while an ordered set orders its element per a specified relation.{set container} {container (set)}
2/2
{AI95-00302-03} This section describes the declarations that are common to both kinds of sets. See A.18.8 for a description of the semantics specific to Containers.Hashed_Sets and A.18.9 for a description of the semantics specific to Containers.Ordered_Sets.

Static Semantics

3/2
{AI95-00302-03} The actual function for the generic formal function "=" on Element_Type values is expected to define a reflexive and symmetric relationship and return the same result value each time it is called with a particular pair of values. If it behaves in some other manner, the function "=" on set values returns an unspecified value. The exact arguments and number of calls of this generic formal function by the function "=" on set values are unspecified.{unspecified [partial]}
3.a/2
Ramification: If the actual function for "=" is not symmetric and consistent, the result returned by the "=" for Set objects cannot be predicted. The implementation is not required to protect against "=" raising an exception, or returning random results, or any other “bad” behavior. And it can call "=" in whatever manner makes sense. But note that only the result of "=" for Set objects is unspecified; other subprograms are not allowed to break if "=" is bad (they aren't expected to use "="). 
4/2
{AI95-00302-03} The type Set is used to represent sets. The type Set needs finalization (see 7.6).
5/2
{AI95-00302-03} A set contains elements. Set cursors designate elements. There exists an equivalence relation on elements, whose definition is different for hashed sets and ordered sets. A set never contains two or more equivalent elements. The length of a set is the number of elements it contains.{length (of a set)}
6/2
{AI95-00302-03} {first element (of a set)} {last element (of a set)} {successor element (of a set)} Each nonempty set has two particular elements called the first element and the last element (which may be the same). Each element except for the last element has a successor element. If there are no other intervening operations, starting with the first element and repeatedly going to the successor element will visit each element in the set exactly once until the last element is reached. The exact definition of these terms is different for hashed sets and ordered sets.
7/2
{AI95-00302-03} [Some operations of these generic packages have access-to-subprogram parameters. To ensure such operations are well-defined, they guard against certain actions by the designated subprogram. In particular, some operations check for “tampering with cursors” of a container because they depend on the set of elements of the container remaining constant, and others check for “tampering with elements” of a container because they depend on elements of the container not being replaced.]
8/2
{AI95-00302-03} {tamper with cursors (of a set)} A subprogram is said to tamper with cursors of a set object S if:
9/2
it inserts or deletes elements of S, that is, it calls the Insert, Include, Clear, Delete, Exclude, or Replace_Element procedures with S as a parameter; or
9.a/2
To be honest: Operations which are defined to be equivalent to a call on one of these operations also are included. Similarly, operations which call one of these as part of their definition are included. 
9.b/2
Discussion: We have to include Replace_Element here because it might delete and reinsert the element if it moves in the set. That could change the order of iteration, which is what this check is designed to prevent. Replace is also included, as it is defined in terms of Replace_Element. 
10/2
it finalizes S; or
11/2
it calls the Move procedure with S as a parameter; or
12/2
it calls one of the operations defined to tamper with cursors of S.
13/2
{AI95-00302-03} {tamper with elements (of a set)} A subprogram is said to tamper with elements of a set object S if:
14/2
it tampers with cursors of S.
14.a/2
Reason: Complete replacement of an element can cause its memory to be deallocated while another operation is holding onto a reference to it. That can't be allowed. However, a simple modification of (part of) an element is not a problem, so Update_Element_Preserving_Key does not cause a problem.
14.b/2
We don't need to list Replace and Replace_Element here because they are covered by “tamper with cursors”. For Set, “tamper with cursors” and “tamper with elements” are the same. We leave both terms so that the rules for routines like Iterate and Query_Element are consistent across all containers. 
15/2
{AI95-00302-03} Empty_Set represents the empty Set object. It has a length of 0. If an object of type Set is not otherwise initialized, it is initialized to the same value as Empty_Set.
16/2
{AI95-00302-03} No_Element represents a cursor that designates no element. If an object of type Cursor is not otherwise initialized, it is initialized to the same value as No_Element.
17/2
{AI95-00302-03} The predefined "=" operator for type Cursor returns True if both cursors are No_Element, or designate the same element in the same container.
18/2
{AI95-00302-03} Execution of the default implementation of the Input, Output, Read, or Write attribute of type Cursor raises Program_Error.
18.a/2
Reason: A cursor will probably be implemented in terms of one or more access values, and the effects of streaming access values is unspecified. Rather than letting the user stream junk by accident, we mandate that streaming of cursors raise Program_Error by default. The attributes can always be specified if there is a need to support streaming. 
19/2
function "=" (Left, Right : Set) return Boolean;
20/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Left and Right denote the same set object, then the function returns True. If Left and Right have different lengths, then the function returns False. Otherwise, for each element E in Left, the function returns False if an element equal to E (using the generic formal equality operator) is not present in Right. If the function has not returned a result after checking all of the elements, it returns True. Any exception raised during evaluation of element equality is propagated. 
20.a/2
Implementation Note: This wording describes the canonical semantics. However, the order and number of calls on the formal equality function is unspecified for all of the operations that use it in this package, so an implementation can call it as many or as few times as it needs to get the correct answer. Specifically, there is no requirement to call the formal equality additional times once the answer has been determined. 
21/2
function Equivalent_Sets (Left, Right : Set) return Boolean;
22/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Left and Right denote the same set object, then the function returns True. If Left and Right have different lengths, then the function returns False. Otherwise, for each element E in Left, the function returns False if an element equivalent to E is not present in Right. If the function has not returned a result after checking all of the elements, it returns True. Any exception raised during evaluation of element equivalence is propagated.
23/2
function To_Set (New_Item : Element_Type) return Set;
24/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns a set containing the single element New_Item.
25/2
function Length (Container : Set) return Count_Type;
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{AI95-00302-03} Returns the number of elements in Container.
27/2
function Is_Empty (Container : Set) return Boolean;
28/2
{AI95-00302-03} Equivalent to Length (Container) = 0.
29/2
procedure Clear (Container : in out Set);
30/2
{AI95-00302-03} Removes all the elements from Container.
31/2
function Element (Position : Cursor) return Element_Type;
32/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Position equals No_Element, then Constraint_Error is propagated. Otherwise, Element returns the element designated by Position.
33/2
procedure Replace_Element (Container : in out Set;
                           Position  : in     Cursor;
                           New_Item  : in     Element_Type);
34/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Position equals No_Element, then Constraint_Error is propagated; if Position does not designate an element in Container, then Program_Error is propagated. If an element equivalent to New_Item is already present in Container at a position other than Position, Program_Error is propagated. Otherwise, Replace_Element assigns New_Item to the element designated by Position. Any exception raised by the assignment is propagated.
34.a/2
Implementation Note: The final assignment may require that the node of the element be moved in the Set's data structures. That could mean that implementing this operation exactly as worded above could require the overhead of searching twice. Implementations are encouraged to avoid this extra overhead when possible, by prechecking if the old element is equivalent to the new one, by inserting a placeholder node while checking for an equivalent element, and similar optimizations.
34.b/2
The cursor still designates the same element after this operation; only the value of that element has changed. Cursors cannot include information about the relative position of an element in a Set (as they must survive insertions and deletions of other elements), so this should not pose an implementation hardship. 
35/2
procedure Query_Element
  (Position : in Cursor;
   Process  : not null access procedure (Element : in Element_Type));
36/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Position equals No_Element, then Constraint_Error is propagated. Otherwise, Query_Element calls Process.all with the element designated by Position as the argument. Program_Error is propagated if Process.all tampers with the elements of Container. Any exception raised by Process.all is propagated.
37/2
procedure Move (Target : in out Set;
                Source : in out Set);
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{AI95-00302-03} If Target denotes the same object as Source, then Move has no effect. Otherwise, Move first clears Target. Then, each element from Source is removed from Source and inserted into Target. The length of Source is 0 after a successful call to Move.
39/2
procedure Insert (Container : in out Set;
                  New_Item  : in     Element_Type;
                  Position  :    out Cursor;
                  Inserted  :    out Boolean);
40/2
{AI95-00302-03} Insert checks if an element equivalent to New_Item is already present in Container. If a match is found, Inserted is set to False and Position designates the matching element. Otherwise, Insert adds New_Item to Container; Inserted is set to True and Position designates the newly-inserted element. Any exception raised during allocation is propagated and Container is not modified.
41/2
procedure Insert (Container : in out Set;
                  New_Item  : in     Element_Type);
42/2
{AI95-00302-03} Insert inserts New_Item into Container as per the four-parameter Insert, with the difference that if an element equivalent to New_Item is already in the set, then Constraint_Error is propagated.
42.a/2
Discussion: This is equivalent to: 
42.b/2
declare
  Inserted : Boolean; C : Cursor;
begin
  Insert (Container, New_Item, C, Inserted);
  if not Inserted then
     raise Constraint_Error;
  end if;
end;
42.c/2
but doesn't require the hassle of out parameters. 
43/2
procedure Include (Container : in out Set;
                   New_Item  : in     Element_Type);
44/2
{AI95-00302-03} Include inserts New_Item into Container as per the four-parameter Insert, with the difference that if an element equivalent to New_Item is already in the set, then it is replaced. Any exception raised during assignment is propagated.
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procedure Replace (Container : in out Set;
                   New_Item  : in     Element_Type);
46/2
{AI95-00302-03} Replace checks if an element equivalent to New_Item is already in the set. If a match is found, that element is replaced with New_Item; otherwise, Constraint_Error is propagated.
47/2
procedure Exclude (Container : in out Set;
                   Item      : in     Element_Type);
48/2
{AI95-00302-03} Exclude checks if an element equivalent to Item is present in Container. If a match is found, Exclude removes the element from the set.
49/2
procedure Delete (Container : in out Set;
                  Item      : in     Element_Type);
50/2
{AI95-00302-03} Delete checks if an element equivalent to Item is present in Container. If a match is found, Delete removes the element from the set; otherwise, Constraint_Error is propagated.
51/2
procedure Delete (Container : in out Set;
                  Position  : in out Cursor);
52/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Position equals No_Element, then Constraint_Error is propagated. If Position does not designate an element in Container, then Program_Error is propagated. Otherwise, Delete removes the element designated by Position from the set. Position is set to No_Element on return.
52.a/2
Ramification: The check on Position checks that the cursor does not belong to some other set. This check implies that a reference to the set is included in the cursor value. This wording is not meant to require detection of dangling cursors; such cursors are defined to be invalid, which means that execution is erroneous, and any result is allowed (including not raising an exception). 
53/2
procedure Union (Target : in out Set;
                 Source : in     Set);
54/2
{AI95-00302-03} Union inserts into Target the elements of Source that are not equivalent to some element already in Target.
54.a/2
Implementation Note: If the objects are the same, the result is the same as the original object. The implementation needs to take care so that aliasing effects do not make the result trash; Union (S, S); must work. 
55/2
function Union (Left, Right : Set) return Set;
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{AI95-00302-03} Returns a set comprising all of the elements of Left, and the elements of Right that are not equivalent to some element of Left.
57/2
procedure Intersection (Target : in out Set;
                        Source : in     Set);
58/2
{AI95-00302-03} Union deletes from Target the elements of Target that are not equivalent to some element of Source.
58.a/2
Implementation Note: If the objects are the same, the result is the same as the original object. The implementation needs to take care so that aliasing effects do not make the result trash; Intersection (S, S); must work. 
59/2
function Intersection (Left, Right : Set) return Set;
60/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns a set comprising all the elements of Left that are equivalent to the some element of Right.
61/2
procedure Difference (Target : in out Set;
                      Source : in     Set);
62/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Target denotes the same object as Source, then Difference clears Target. Otherwise, it deletes from Target the elements that are equivalent to some element of Source.
63/2
function Difference (Left, Right : Set) return Set;
64/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns a set comprising the elements of Left that are not equivalent to some element of Right.
65/2
procedure Symmetric_Difference (Target : in out Set;
                                Source : in     Set);
66/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Target denotes the same object as Source, then Symmetric_Difference clears Target. Otherwise, it deletes from Target the elements that are equivalent to some element of Source, and inserts into Target the elements of Source that are not equivalent to some element of Target.
67/2
function Symmetric_Difference (Left, Right : Set) return Set;
68/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns a set comprising the elements of Left that are not equivalent to some element of Right, and the elements of Right that are not equivalent to some element of Left.
69/2
function Overlap (Left, Right : Set) return Boolean;
70/2
{AI95-00302-03} If an element of Left is equivalent to some element of Right, then Overlap returns True. Otherwise it returns False.
70.a/2
Discussion: This operation is commutative. If Overlap returns False, the two sets are disjoint. 
71/2
function Is_Subset (Subset : Set;
                    Of_Set : Set) return Boolean;
72/2
{AI95-00302-03} If an element of Subset is not equivalent to some element of Of_Set, then Is_Subset returns False. Otherwise it returns True.
72.a/2
Discussion: This operation is not commutative, so we use parameter names that make it clear in named notation which set is which. 
73/2
function First (Container : Set) return Cursor;
74/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Length (Container) = 0, then First returns No_Element. Otherwise, First returns a cursor that designates the first element in Container.
75/2
function Next (Position  : Cursor) return Cursor;
76/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns a cursor that designates the successor of the element designated by Position. If Position designates the last element, then No_Element is returned. If Position equals No_Element, then No_Element is returned.
77/2
procedure Next (Position  : in out Cursor);
78/2
{AI95-00302-03} Equivalent to Position := Next (Position).
79/2
{AI95-00302-03} Equivalent to Find (Container, Item) /= No_Element.
80/2
function Find (Container : Set;
               Item      : Element_Type) return Cursor;
81/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Length (Container) equals 0, then Find returns No_Element. Otherwise, Find checks if an element equivalent to Item is present in Container. If a match is found, a cursor designating the matching element is returned; otherwise, No_Element is returned.
82/2
function Contains (Container : Set;
                   Item      : Element_Type) return Boolean;
83/2
function Has_Element (Position : Cursor) return Boolean;
84/2
{AI95-00302-03} Returns True if Position designates an element, and returns False otherwise.
84.a/2
To be honest: This function may not detect cursors that designate deleted elements; such cursors are invalid (see below); the result of Has_Element for invalid cursors is unspecified (but not erroneous). 
85/2
procedure Iterate
  (Container : in Set;
   Process   : not null access procedure (Position : in Cursor));
86/2
{AI95-00302-03} Iterate calls Process.all with a cursor that designates each element in Container, starting with the first element and moving the cursor according to the successor relation. Program_Error is propagated if Process.all tampers with the cursors of Container. Any exception raised by Process.all is propagated.
86.a/2
Implementation Note: The “tamper with cursors” check takes place when the operations that insert or delete elements, and so on are called.
86.b/2
See Iterate for vectors (A.18.2) for a suggested implementation of the check. 
87/2
{AI95-00302-03} Both Containers.Hashed_Set and Containers.Ordered_Set declare a nested generic package Generic_Keys, which provides operations that allow set manipulation in terms of a key (typically, a portion of an element) instead of a complete element. The formal function Key of Generic_Keys extracts a key value from an element. It is expected to return the same value each time it is called with a particular element. The behavior of Generic_Keys is unspecified if Key behaves in some other manner.{unspecified [partial]}
88/2
{AI95-00302-03} A key is expected to unambiguously determine a single equivalence class for elements. The behavior of Generic_Keys is unspecified if the formal parameters of this package behave in some other manner.{unspecified [partial]}
89/2
function Key (Position : Cursor) return Key_Type;
90/2
{AI95-00302-03} Equivalent to Key (Element (Position)). 
91/2
{AI95-00302-03} The subprograms in package Generic_Keys named Contains, Find, Element, Delete, and Exclude, are equivalent to the corresponding subprograms in the parent package, with the difference that the Key parameter is used to locate an element in the set.
92/2
procedure Replace (Container : in out Set;
                   Key       : in     Key_Type;
                   New_Item  : in     Element_Type);
93/2
{AI95-00302-03} Equivalent to Replace_Element (Container, Find (Container, Key), New_Item).
94/2
procedure Update_Element_Preserving_Key
  (Container : in out Set;
   Position  : in     Cursor;
   Process   : not null access procedure
                                 (Element : in out Element_Type));
95/2
{AI95-00302-03} If Position equals No_Element, then Constraint_Error is propagated; if Position does not designate an element in Container, then Program_Error is propagated. Otherwise, Update_Element_Preserving_Key uses Key to save the key value K of the element designated by Position. Update_Element_Preserving_Key then calls Process.all with that element as the argument. Program_Error is propagated if Process.all tampers with the elements of Container. Any exception raised by Process.all is propagated. After Process.all returns, Update_Element_Preserving_Key checks if K determines the same equivalence class as that for the new element; if not, the element is removed from the set and Program_Error is propagated.
95.a/2
Reason: The key check ensures that the invariants of the set are preserved by the modification. The “tampers with the elements” check prevents data loss (if Element_Type is by-copy) or erroneous execution (if element type is unconstrained and indefinite). 
96/2
If Element_Type is unconstrained and definite, then the actual Element parameter of Process.all shall be unconstrained.
96.a/2
Ramification: This means that the elements cannot be directly allocated from the heap; it must be possible to change the discriminants of the element in place. 

Erroneous Execution

97/2
{AI95-00302-03} A Cursor value is invalid if any of the following have occurred since it was created:{invalid cursor (of a set)} {cursor (invalid) [partial]}
98/2
The set that contains the element it designates has been finalized;
99/2
The set that contains the element it designates has been used as the Source or Target of a call to Move; or
100/2
The element it designates has been deleted from the set.
101/2
 {AI95-00302-03} The result of "=" or Has_Element is unspecified if these functions are called with an invalid cursor parameter.{unspecified [partial]} Execution is erroneous if any other subprogram declared in Containers.Hashed_Sets or Containers.Ordered_Sets is called with an invalid cursor parameter.{erroneous execution (cause) [partial]}
101.a/2
Discussion: The list above is intended to be exhaustive. In other cases, a cursor value continues to designate its original element. For instance, cursor values survive the insertion and deletion of other elements.
101.b/2
While it is possible to check for these cases, in many cases the overhead necessary to make the check is substantial in time or space. Implementations are encouraged to check for as many of these cases as possible and raise Program_Error if detected. 

Implementation Requirements

102/2
 {AI95-00302-03} No storage associated with a Set object shall be lost upon assignment or scope exit.
103/2
 {AI95-00302-03} The execution of an assignment_statement for a set shall have the effect of copying the elements from the source set object to the target set object.
103.a/2
Implementation Note: An assignment of a Set is a “deep” copy; that is the elements are copied as well as the data structures. We say “effect of” in order to allow the implementation to avoid copying elements immediately if it wishes. For instance, an implementation that avoided copying until one of the containers is modified would be allowed. 

Implementation Advice

104/2
 {AI95-00302-03} Move should not copy elements, and should minimize copying of internal data structures. 
104.a/2
Implementation Advice: Move for sets should not copy elements, and should minimize copying of internal data structures.
104.b/2
Implementation Note: Usually that can be accomplished simply by moving the pointer(s) to the internal data structures from the Source container to the Target container. 
105/2
 {AI95-00302-03} If an exception is propagated from a set operation, no storage should be lost, nor any elements removed from a set unless specified by the operation. 
105.a/2
Implementation Advice: If an exception is propagated from a set operation, no storage should be lost, nor any elements removed from a set unless specified by the operation.
105.b/2
Reason: This is important so that programs can recover from errors. But we don't want to require heroic efforts, so we just require documentation of cases where this can't be accomplished.

Wording Changes from Ada 95

105.c/2
{AI95-00302-03} This description of sets is new; the extensions are documented with the specific packages. 

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