From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,b68ad30ece6a8cb X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!postnews.google.com!l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: gautier_niouzes@hotmail.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Binding or not binding Date: 31 Jan 2007 13:31:45 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Message-ID: <1170279105.540298.233310@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 83.76.180.137 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1170279110 22646 127.0.0.1 (31 Jan 2007 21:31:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:31:50 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: User-Agent: G2/1.0 X-HTTP-UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.8.0.9) Gecko/20061206 Firefox/1.5.0.9,gzip(gfe),gzip(gfe) Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com; posting-host=83.76.180.137; posting-account=CZAoAgwAAAD9ntJQ85OlWL0_Q5EFdzP_ Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:8790 Date: 2007-01-31T13:31:45-08:00 List-Id: Hullo! It is a very fundamental question and not akward at all. An Ada version is worth because you get an a priori portability, when, with a binding, you have to follow each version/compiler/OS/option set of the original library. But it cost effort and time. I think the value of this effort depends on: 1/ simplicity of input - output 2/ degree of fossilisation 1: if the input and output are relatively basic, abstract and stable over time (like files, memory), it is more worth to have an Ada version: you can take time to build it, it will still work 2: the more the library is fossilized, the more the effort of both (Ada version, Ada binding) is worth Examples: - zlib is perfect in the 1 and 2 criteria; in addition, the code for decompression is already done (Unzip-Ada); there are better compressors for the "inflate" format than zlib, so translating zlib compression would perhaps not be the best idea (for a _worse_ compression, there are two quick solutions :-) )... - OpenGL: the output is a graphics card; it would be silly to make an Ada version for each one...; the criterium 2 is advanced, so maintaining a binding is worth the effort IHMO. My point of view is rather hobbyist - but you never know with software... E.g. Unzip-Ada is reportedly used in at least two professional programs (one is embedded). ______________________________________________________________ Gautier -- http://www.mysunrise.ch/users/gdm/index.htm Ada programming -- http://www.mysunrise.ch/users/gdm/gsoft.htm