Add creation feature make_empty

Proposal

Proposal for class STRING:

Add creation feature 'make_empty'.

make_empty
     -- create empty string
   ensure
      empty: count = 0

Please select one of the following:

Strongly accept the proposal
Accept the proposal
Reject the proposal
Strongly reject the proposal
Don't mind (happy either way)
Abstain (not happy either way)

Result

The proposal was accepted.

Voting details

votes cast at eGroups:

Strongly accept the proposal
                jcm@mstr.hgc.edu
                franck.arnaud@omgroup.com
                steinman@sco.edu
Accept the proposal
                richieb@netlabs.net
                dougpardee@my-deja.com
                kevin@ethossoft.co.nz
                ericb@gobosoft.com
                tking@insystems.com
                kwaxer@aha.ru
Don't mind (happy either way)
                peter@deakin.edu.au
                manus@eiffel.com
Reject the proposal
                joachim.durchholz@halstenbach.de
                ansible@xnet.com
Abstain (not happy either way)
                genepi@sympatico.ca

votes sent to the discussion list:

emailed votes:

History

This feature has not previously been implemented by any vendor.

Rationale

Together with make_filled, this feature would make it possible to write interoperable non-capacity-aware STRINGs.

Currently, Visual Eiffel uses make for this purpose, which clashes with the ELKS 1995 specification of make.

Feature make_empty is not strictly needed because it can alternatively be written as:

make_filled(0, some_meaningless_character)

However, make_empty is more readable and avoids the need to specify the meaningless character. It would also be useful as a default creation routine under proposed language extensions.

Impact of proposed change

Low.