Ada '83 Language Reference Manual

Copyright 1980, 1982, 1983 owned by the United States Government. Direct reproduction and usage requests to the Ada Information Clearinghouse.

1.6. Classification of Errors

The language definition classifies errors into several different categories:

1. Errors that must be detected at compilation time by every Ada compiler.
   
   These errors correspond to any violation of a rule given in this reference manual, other than the violations that correspond to (b) or (c) below. In particular, violation of any rule that uses the terms must, allowed, legal, or illegal belongs to this category. Any program that contains such an error is not a legal Ada program; on the other hand, the fact that a program is legal does not mean, per se, that the program is free from other forms of error.
   
   
2. Errors that must be detected at run time by the execution of an Ada program.
   
   The corresponding error situations are associated with the names of the predefined exceptions. Every Ada compiler is required to generate code that raises the corresponding exception if such an error situation arises during program execution. If an exception is certain to be raised in every execution of a program, then compilers are allowed (although not required) to report this fact at compilation time.
   
   
3. Erroneous execution.
   
   The language rules specify certain rules to be obeyed by Ada programs, although there is no requirement on Ada compilers to provide either a compilation-time or a run-time detection of the violation of such rules. The errors of this category are indicated by the use of the word erroneous to qualify the execution of the corresponding constructs. The effect of erroneous execution is unpredictable.
   
   
4. Incorrect order dependences.
   
   Whenever the reference manual specifies that different parts of a given construct are to be executed in some order that is not defined by the language, this means that the implementation is allowed to execute these parts in any given order, following the rules that result from that given order, but not in parallel. Furthermore, the construct is incorrect if execution of these parts in a different order would have a different effect. Compilers are not required to provide either compilation-time or run-time detection of incorrect order dependences. The foregoing is expressed in terms of the process that is called execution; it applies equally to the processes that are called evaluation and elaboration.

Style Guide references: 5.9 Erroneous Execution

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