1
Deferred constant declarations may be used to declare constants in the visible part of a package, but with the value of the constant given in the private part. They may also be used to declare constants imported from other languages (see Annex B).
2
A deferred constant declaration is an object_declaration with the reserved word constant but no initialization expression. The constant declared by a deferred constant declaration is called a deferred constant. A deferred constant declaration requires a completion, which shall be a full constant declaration (called the full declaration of the deferred constant), or a pragma Import (see Annex B). 3
A deferred constant declaration that is completed by a full constant declaration shall occur immediately within the visible part of a package_specification. For this case, the following additional rules apply to the corresponding full declaration:
4
5/2
6/2
7/2
7.1/2
8
A deferred constant declaration that is completed by a pragma Import need not appear in the visible part of a package_specification, and has no full constant declaration.
9/2
The completion of a deferred constant declaration shall occur before the constant is frozen (see 13.14).
10
The elaboration of a deferred constant declaration elaborates the subtype_indication or (only allowed in the case of an imported constant) the array_type_definition.
NOTES
11
13 The full constant declaration for a deferred constant that is of a given private type or private extension is not allowed before the corresponding full_type_declaration. This is a consequence of the freezing rules for types (see 13.14).
12
Examples of deferred constant declarations:
13
Null_Key : constant Key; −− see 7.3.1
14
CPU_Identifier : constant String(1..8); pragma Import(Assembler, CPU_Identifier, Link_Name => "CPU_ID"); −− see B.1