[modshatereality]

cracks open the "REFERENCE MANUAL FOR THE Ada(r) PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE"

looks like Ada83 specification has address clause though, which can effectively be used as a pointer when combined with System.Address / 'Address attribute. Also has access type, but you can't pass access type around all willy-nilly-like without unchecked_access (added in 95?).

C pointers are more flexible though, that much is true.

edit, almost forgot: the main downside of Ada < 95 is you don't get function pointers, or import/export pragma