Re: Newbie Needs Ada Advice

[ezkcdude <zamir.evan@gmail.com>]

Markus, thanks for the advice. I'm one of those people who loves to do
the "right" thing, and it seems to me like Ada is, in theory, a great
programming language. Of course, one has to be practical. The main
issues that I am trying to wrestle with is how I would implement a GUI
and, in general, handle graphics (display, manipulation, input/
output). Java seems much more ready-made for these tasks at the
moment, and I don't see the Ada packages have that much enthusiasm or
support. It's unfortunate, because like I said, Ada seems like the
"right" language to me for most of what my objectives are.

One idea I have, and I'd love to hear advice or comments, is to use
Ada as the "engine" for my program, and somehow use Java to create the
GUI and deal with images. Does this seem like a possibility?
-evan

On May 7, 3:01 am, Markus E Leypold
<development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVET...@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de> wrote:
> ezkcdude <zamir.e...@gmail.com> writes:
> > I'm interested in using Ada, so I installed the GNAT compiler on
> > Windows (tried on Mac, but I had problems with X11). Anyway, I want to
> > dive in head-first, and my main question is how do you guys write
> > programs with GUIs? Do you use the gdk toolkit primarily? Also, the
> > application I eventually have in mind is for automated control of a
> > microscope, so I need to be able to interface with drivers/serial
> > ports/firewire/etc. Do you have any advice for me to help me along?
>
> My advice would be to be a bit cautious with advice from c.l.a.:
> People there tend to advocate Ada and therefore are slightly prone to
> overlook problems with tools, libraries and (dare I say it) licenses.
>
> This is not bad will, but basically a problem of perspective: You will
> find threads that end with: "I don't have that problem" ... "Well, I'm
> using my employers infrastructure, we've licensed Gnat Pro". Then the
> discussion starts, why it is "not an option" for you to license Gnat
> Pro.
>
> > Thanks! Looks like a nice newsgroup to visit.
>
> It certainly is a nice newsgroup, with a number of technically really
> savy people. But a bit biased in some respects, so be cautious WRT
> strategic advice (like: what is a problem, what isn't, what are the
> payoffs or disadvantages of decisions, what you "should" be doing). At
> the end of the day your decisions are your own responsibility and
> "some guy at the usenet told me" is rarely a good rationale and hardly
> a good excuse.
>
> Better do some (additional) research of your own (and document your
> findings and your rationales, just in case you have to justify your
> decisions some time).
>
> Regards -- Markus