AARM95 - Freezing Rules
Author: JTC1/SC22/WG9/ARG, by Randall Brukardt, ARG Editor

Contents Index Previous Next

# 13.14 Freezing Rules

1
[This clause defines a place in the program text where each declared entity becomes ``frozen.'' A use of an entity, such as a reference to it by name, or (for a type) an expression of the type, causes freezing of the entity in some contexts, as described below. The Legality Rules forbid certain kinds of uses of an entity in the region of text where it is frozen.]
1.a
Reason: This concept has two purposes: a compile-time one and a run-time one.
1.b
The compile-time purpose of the freezing rules comes from the fact that the evaluation of static expressions depends on overload resolution, and overload resolution sometimes depends on the value of a static expression. (The dependence of static evaluation upon overload resolution is obvious. The dependence in the other direction is more subtle. There are three rules that require static expressions in contexts that can appear in declarative places: The expression in an attribute_designator shall be static. In a record aggregate, variant-controlling discriminants shall be static. In an array aggregate with more than one named association, the choices shall be static. The compiler needs to know the value of these expressions in order to perform overload resolution and legality checking.) We wish to allow a compiler to evaluate static expressions when it sees them in a single pass over the compilation_unit. The freezing rules ensure that.
1.c
The run-time purpose of the freezing rules is called the ``linear elaboration model.'' This means that declarations are elaborated in the order in which they appear in the program text, and later elaborations can depend on the results of earlier ones. The elaboration of the declarations of certain entities requires run-time information about the implementation details of other entities. The freezing rules ensure that this information has been calculated by the time it is used. For example, suppose the initial value of a constant is the result of a function call that takes a parameter of type T. In order to pass that parameter, the size of type T has to be known. If T is composite, that size might be known only at run time.
1.d
(Note that in these discussions, words like ``before'' and ``after'' generally refer to places in the program text, as opposed to times at run time.)
1.e
Discussion: The ``implementation details'' we're talking about above are:
1.f

- For a tagged type, the implementations of all the primitive subprograms of the type -- that is (in the canonical implementation model), the contents of the type descriptor, which contains pointers to the code for each primitive subprogram.

1.g

- For a type, the full type declaration of any parts (including the type itself) that are private.

1.h

- For a deferred constant, the full constant declaration, which gives the constant's value. (Since this information necessarily comes after the constant's type and subtype are fully known, there's no need to worry about its type or subtype.)

1.i

- For any entity, representation information specified by the user via representation items. Most representation items are for types or subtypes; however, various other kinds of entities, such as objects and subprograms, are possible.

1.j
Similar issues arise for incomplete types. However, we do not use freezing there; incomplete types have different, more severe, restrictions. Similar issues also arise for subprograms, protected operations, tasks and generic units. However, we do not use freezing there either; 3.11 prevents problems with run-time Elaboration_Checks.

#### Language Design Principles

1.k
An evaluable construct should freeze anything that's needed to evaluate it.
1.l
However, if the construct is not evaluated where it appears, let it cause freezing later, when it is evaluated. This is the case for default_expressions and default_names. (Formal parameters, generic formal parameters, and components can have default_expressions or default_names.)
1.m
The compiler should be allowed to evaluate static expressions without knowledge of their context. (I.e. there should not be any special rules for static expressions that happen to occur in a context that requires a static expression.)
1.n
Compilers should be allowed to evaluate static expressions (and record the results) using the run-time representation of the type. For example, suppose Color'Pos(Red) = 1, but the internal code for Red is 37. If the value of a static expression is Red, some compilers might store 1 in their symbol table, and other compilers might store 37. Either compiler design should be feasible.
1.o
Compilers should never be required to detect erroneousness or exceptions at compile time (although it's very nice if they do). This implies that we should not require code-generation for a nonstatic expression of type T too early, even if we can prove that that expression will be erroneous, or will raise an exception.
1.p
Here's an example (modified from AI83-00039, Example 3):
1.q
`type T is
record
...
end record;
function F return T;
function G(X : T) return Boolean;
Y : Boolean := G(F); -- doesn't force T in Ada 83
for T use
record
...
end record;`
1.r
AI83-00039 says this is legal. Of course, it raises Program_Error because the function bodies aren't elaborated yet. A one-pass compiler has to generate code for an expression of type T before it knows the representation of T. Here's a similar example, which AI83-00039 also says is legal:
1.s
`package P is
type T is private;
function F return T;
function G(X : T) return Boolean;
Y : Boolean := G(F); -- doesn't force T in Ada 83
private
type T is
record
...
end record;
end P;`
1.t
If T's size were dynamic, that size would be stored in some compiler-generated dope; this dope would be initialized at the place of the full type declaration. However, the generated code for the function calls would most likely allocate a temp of the size specified by the dope before checking for Program_Error. That dope would contain uninitialized junk, resulting in disaster. To avoid doing that, the compiler would have to determine, at compile time, that the expression will raise Program_Error.
1.u
This is silly. If we're going to require compilers to detect the exception at compile time, we might as well formulate the rule as a legality rule.
1.v
Compilers should not be required to generate code to load the value of a variable before the address of the variable has been determined.
1.w
After an entity has been frozen, no further requirements may be placed on its representation (such as by a representation item or a full_type_declaration).
2
The freezing of an entity occurs at one or more places (freezing points) in the program text where the representation for the entity has to be fully determined. Each entity is frozen from its first freezing point to the end of the program text (given the ordering of compilation units defined in 10.1.4).
2.a
Ramification: The ``representation'' for a subprogram includes its calling convention and means for referencing the subprogram body, either a ``link-name'' or specified address. It does not include the code for the subprogram body itself, nor its address if a link-name is used to reference the body.
3/1
{8652/0014} The end of a declarative_part, protected_body, or a declaration of a library package or generic library package, causes freezing of each entity declared within it, except for incomplete types. A noninstance body other than a renames-as-body causes freezing of each entity declared before it within the same declarative_part.
3.a
Discussion: This is worded carefully to handle nested packages and private types. Entities declared in a nested package_specification will be frozen by some containing construct.
3.b
An incomplete type declared in the private part of a library package_specification can be completed in the body.
3.c
Ramification: The part about bodies does not say immediately within. A renaming-as-body does not have this property. Nor does a pragma Import.
3.d
Reason: The reason bodies cause freezing is because we want proper_bodies and body_stubs to be interchangeable -- one should be able to move a proper_body to a subunit, and vice-versa, without changing the semantics. Clearly, anything that should cause freezing should do so even if it's inside a proper_body. However, if we make it a body_stub, then the compiler can't see that thing that should cause freezing. So we make body_stubs cause freezing, just in case they contain something that should cause freezing. But that means we need to do the same for proper_bodies.
3.e
Another reason for bodies to cause freezing, there could be an added implementation burden if an entity declared in an enclosing declarative_part is frozen within a nested body, since some compilers look at bodies after looking at the containing declarative_part.
4/1
{8652/0046} A construct that (explicitly or implicitly) references an entity can cause the freezing of the entity, as defined by subsequent paragraphs. At the place where a construct causes freezing, each name, expression, implicit_dereferenceexpression[, or range] within the construct causes freezing:
4.a
Ramification: Note that in the sense of this paragraph, a subtype_mark ``references'' the denoted subtype, but not the type.
5

- The occurrence of a generic_instantiation causes freezing; also, if a parameter of the instantiation is defaulted, the default_expression or default_name for that parameter causes freezing.

6

- The occurrence of an object_declaration that has no corresponding completion causes freezing.

6.a
Ramification: Note that this does not include a formal_object_declaration.
7

- The declaration of a record extension causes freezing of the parent subtype.

7.a
Ramification: This combined with another rule specifying that primitive subprogram declarations shall precede freezing ensures that all descendants of a tagged type implement all of its dispatching operations.
7.b
The declaration of a private extension does not cause freezing. The freezing is deferred until the full type declaration, which will necessarily be for a record extension.
8/1
{8652/0046} A static expression causes freezing where it occurs. An object name orA nonstatic expression causes freezing where it occurs, unless the name or expression is part of a default_expression, a default_name, or a per-object expression of a component's constraint, in which case, the freezing occurs later as part of another construct.
8.1/1
{8652/0046} An implicit call freezes the same entities that would be frozen by an explicit call. This is true even if the implicit call is removed via implementation permissions.
8.2/1
{8652/0046} If an expression is implicitly converted to a type or subtype T, then at the place where the expression causes freezing, T is frozen.
9
The following rules define which entities are frozen at the place where a construct causes freezing:
10

- At the place where an expression causes freezing, the type of the expression is frozen, unless the expression is an enumeration literal used as a discrete_choice of the array_aggregate of an enumeration_representation_clause.

10.a
Reason: We considered making enumeration literals never cause freezing, which would be more upward compatible, but examples like the variant record aggregate (Discrim => Red, ...) caused us to change our mind. Furthermore, an enumeration literal is a static expression, so the implementation should be allowed to represent it using its representation.
10.b
Ramification: The following pathological example was legal in Ada 83, but is illegal in Ada 95:
10.c
`package P1 is
type T is private;
package P2 is
type Composite(D : Boolean) is
record
case D is
when False => Cf : Integer;
when True => Ct : T;
end case;
end record;
end P2;
X : Boolean := P2."="( (False,1), (False,1) );
private
type T is array(1..Func_Call) of Integer;
end;`
10.d
In Ada 95, the declaration of X freezes Composite (because it contains an expression of that type), which in turn freezes T (even though Ct does not exist in this particular case). But type T is not completely defined at that point, violating the rule that a type shall be completely defined before it is frozen. In Ada 83, on the other hand, there is no occurrence of the name T, hence no forcing occurrence of T.
11

- At the place where a name causes freezing, the entity denoted by the name is frozen, unless the name is a prefix of an expanded name; at the place where an object name causes freezing, the nominal subtype associated with the name is frozen.

11.a
Ramification: This only matters in the presence of deferred constants or access types; an object_declaration other than a deferred_constant_declaration causes freezing of the nominal subtype, plus all component junk.
11.b/1
This paragraph was deleted.{8652/0046} Implicit_dereferences are covered by expression.
11.1/1

- {8652/0046} At the place where an implicit_dereference causes freezing, the nominal subtype associated with the implicit_dereference is frozen.

12

- [ At the place where a range causes freezing, the type of the range is frozen.]

12.a
Proof: This is consequence of the facts that expressions freeze their type, and the Range attribute is defined to be equivalent to a pair of expressions separated by ``..''.}
13

- At the place where an allocator causes freezing, the designated subtype of its type is frozen. If the type of the allocator is a derived type, then all ancestor types are also frozen.

13.a
Ramification: Allocators also freeze the named subtype, as a consequence of other rules.
13.b
The ancestor types are frozen to prevent things like this:
13.c
`type Pool_Ptr is access System.Storage_Pools.Root_Storage_Pool'Class;
function F return Pool_Ptr;`
13.d
`package P is
type A1 is access Boolean;
type A2 is new A1;
type A3 is new A2;
X : A3 := new Boolean; -- Don't know what pool yet!
for A1'Storage_Pool use F.all;
end P;`
13.e
This is necessary because derived access types share their parent's pool.
14

- At the place where a callable entity is frozen, each subtype of its profile is frozen. If the callable entity is a member of an entry family, the index subtype of the family is frozen. At the place where a function call causes freezing, if a parameter of the call is defaulted, the default_expression for that parameter causes freezing.

14.a
Discussion: We don't worry about freezing for procedure calls or entry calls, since a body freezes everything that precedes it, and the end of a declarative part freezes everything in the declarative part.
15

- At the place where a subtype is frozen, its type is frozen. At the place where a type is frozen, any expressions or names within the full type definition cause freezing; the first subtype, and any component subtypes, index subtypes, and parent subtype of the type are frozen as well. For a specific tagged type, the corresponding class-wide type is frozen as well. For a class-wide type, the corresponding specific type is frozen as well.

15.a
Ramification: Freezing a type needs to freeze its first subtype in order to preserve the property that the subtype-specific aspects of statically matching subtypes are the same.
15.b
Freezing an access type does not freeze its designated subtype.

#### Legality Rules

16
[The explicit declaration of a primitive subprogram of a tagged type shall occur before the type is frozen (see 3.9.2).]
16.a
Reason: This rule is needed because (1) we don't want people dispatching to things that haven't been declared yet, and (2) we want to allow tagged type descriptors to be static (allocated statically, and initialized to link-time-known symbols). Suppose T2 inherits primitive P from T1, and then overrides P. Suppose P is called before the declaration of the overriding P. What should it dispatch to? If the answer is the new P, we've violated the first principle above. If the answer is the old P, we've violated the second principle. (A call to the new one necessarily raises Program_Error, but that's beside the point.)
16.b
Note that a call upon a dispatching operation of type T will freeze T.
16.c
We considered applying this rule to all derived types, for uniformity. However, that would be upward incompatible, so we rejected the idea. As in Ada 83, for an untagged type, the above call upon P will call the old P (which is arguably confusing).
17
[A type shall be completely defined before it is frozen (see 3.11.1 and 7.3).]
18
[The completion of a deferred constant declaration shall occur before the constant is frozen (see 7.4).]
19/1
{8652/0009} An operational orA representation item that directly specifies an aspect of an entity shall appear before the entity is frozen (see 13.1).
19.a/1
Discussion: {8652/0009} From RM83-13.1(7). The wording here forbids freezing within the aspect_clauserepresentation_clause itself, which was not true of the Ada 83 wording. The wording of this rule is carefully written to work properly for type-related representation items. For example, an enumeration_representation_clause is illegal after the type is frozen, even though the _clause refers to the first subtype.
19.b
Proof: The above Legality Rules are stated ``officially'' in the referenced clauses.
19.c
Discussion: Here's an example that illustrates when freezing occurs in the presence of defaults:
19.d
`type T is ...;
function F return T;
type R is
record
C : T := F;
D : Boolean := F = F;
end record;
X : R;`
19.e
Since the elaboration of R's declaration does not allocate component C, there is no need to freeze C's subtype at that place. Similarly, since the elaboration of R does not evaluate the default_expression ``F = F'', there is no need to freeze the types involved at that point. However, the declaration of X does need to freeze these things. Note that even if component C did not exist, the elaboration of the declaration of X would still need information about T -- even though D is not of type T, its default_expression requires that information.
19.f
Ramification: Although we define freezing in terms of the program text as a whole (i.e. after applying the rules of Section 10), the freezing rules actually have no effect beyond compilation unit boundaries.
19.g
Reason: That is important, because Section 10 allows some implementation definedness in the order of things, and we don't want the freezing rules to be implementation defined.
19.h
Ramification: These rules also have no effect in statements -- they only apply within a single declarative_part, package_specification, task_definition, protected_definition, or protected_body.
19.i
Implementation Note: An implementation may choose to generate code for default_expressions and default_names in line at the place of use. Alternatively, an implementation may choose to generate thunks (subprograms implicitly generated by the compiler) for evaluation of defaults. Thunk generation cannot, in general, be done at the place of the declaration that includes the default. Instead, they can be generated at the first freezing point of the type(s) involved. (It is impossible to write a purely one-pass Ada compiler, for various reasons. This is one of them -- the compiler needs to store a representation of defaults in its symbol table, and then walk that representation later, no earlier than the first freezing point.)
19.j
In implementation terms, the linear elaboration model can be thought of as preventing uninitialized dope. For example, the implementation might generate dope to contain the size of a private type. This dope is initialized at the place where the type becomes completely defined. It cannot be initialized earlier, because of the order-of-elaboration rules. The freezing rules prevent elaboration of earlier declarations from accessing the size dope for a private type before it is initialized.
19.k
2.8 overrides the freezing rules in the case of unrecognized pragmas.
19.l/1
{8652/0009} An aspect_clauseA representation_clause for an entity should most certainly not be a freezing point for the entity.

#### Incompatibilities With Ada 83

19.m
RM83 defines a forcing occurrence of a type as follows: ``A forcing occurrence is any occurrence [of the name of the type, subtypes of the type, or types or subtypes with subcomponents of the type] other than in a type or subtype declaration, a subprogram specification, an entry declaration, a deferred constant declaration, a pragma, or a representation_clause for the type itself. In any case, an occurrence within an expression is always forcing.''
19.n
It seems like the wording allows things like this:
19.o
`type A is array(Integer range 1..10) of Boolean;
subtype S is Integer range A'Range;
-- not forcing for A`
19.p
Occurrences within pragmas can cause freezing in Ada 95. (Since such pragmas are ignored in Ada 83, this will probably fix more bugs than it causes.)

#### Extensions to Ada 83

19.q
In Ada 95, generic_formal_parameter_declarations do not normally freeze the entities from which they are defined. For example:
19.r
`package Outer is
type T is tagged limited private;
generic
type T2 is
new T with private; -- Does not freeze T
-- in Ada 95.
package Inner is
...
end Inner;
private
type T is ...;
end Outer;`
19.s
This is important for the usability of generics. The above example uses the Ada 95 feature of formal derived types. Examples using the kinds of formal parameters already allowed in Ada 83 are well known. See, for example, comments 83-00627 and 83-00688. The extensive use expected for formal derived types makes this issue even more compelling than described by those comments. Unfortunately, we are unable to solve the problem that explicit_generic_actual_parameters cause freezing, even though a package equivalent to the instance would not cause freezing. This is primarily because such an equivalent package would have its body in the body of the containing program unit, whereas an instance has its body right there.

#### Wording Changes from Ada 83

19.t
The concept of freezing is based on Ada 83's concept of ``forcing occurrences.'' The first freezing point of an entity corresponds roughly to the place of the first forcing occurrence, in Ada 83 terms. The reason for changing the terminology is that the new rules do not refer to any particular ``occurrence'' of a name of an entity. Instead, we refer to ``uses'' of an entity, which are sometimes implicit.
19.u
In Ada 83, forcing occurrences were used only in rules about representation_clauses. We have expanded the concept to cover private types, because the rules stated in RM83-7.4.1(4) are almost identical to the forcing occurrence rules.
19.v
The Ada 83 rules are changed in Ada 95 for the following reasons:
19.w

- The Ada 83 rules do not work right for subtype-specific aspects. In an earlier version of Ada 95, we considered allowing representation items to apply to subtypes other than the first subtype. This was part of the reason for changing the Ada 83 rules. However, now that we have dropped that functionality, we still need the rules to be different from the Ada 83 rules.

19.x

- The Ada 83 rules do not achieve the intended effect. In Ada 83, either with or without the AIs, it is possible to force the compiler to generate code that references uninitialized dope, or force it to detect erroneousness and exception raising at compile time.

19.y

- It was a goal of Ada 83 to avoid uninitialized access values. However, in the case of deferred constants, this goal was not achieved.

19.z

- The Ada 83 rules are not only too weak -- they are also too strong. They allow loopholes (as described above), but they also prevent certain kinds of default_expressions that are harmless, and certain kinds of generic_declarations that are both harmless and very useful.

19.aa

- Ada 83 had a case where a representation_clause had a strong effect on the semantics of the program -- 'Small. This caused certain semantic anomalies. There are more cases in Ada 95, because the attribute_representation_clause has been generalized.

Contents Index Previous Next Legal