Re: AVR GCC/GNAT port quality ?

[Rolf <rolf.ebert_nospam_@gmx.net>]

On 25 Jun., 13:47, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP (Simon
Clubley) wrote:
> I'm thinking of using the AVR microcontroller along with the AVR GNAT
> compiler in a project.

Nice to see that someone is interested in AVR-Ada.  I can only
encourage you to try it out.  I built a data logger (several
temperatures and gas consumption) for my home based on the cheap AVR-
Butterfly.  And I also managed to make the first steps with the Asuro
robot (http://www.arexx.com/arexx.php?cmd=goto&cparam=p_asuro.dat)

> Would anyone here like to offer an opinion on the quality of the GNAT
> AVR port ?

The Ada compiler itself is quite good.  When I started the project
some years ago I had some ICE (internal compiler errors); they all
seem to be ironed out by the time.

But then you have to be careful what Ada constructs you want to use.
Most of them require extensive support in the run time system.  For
most constructs I do not yet provide the necessary files in the RTS.
Most notably there is no support (yet) for:
- tasking
- exceptions
- run time dispatching (aka tagged types)

On the other hand you can:
- access all IO pins
- attach procedures to interrupts
- use some predefined routines for LCD, RS232, flash memory, eeprom,
etc.
- have a lot of fun sqeezing Ada programs into a few hundred bytes.

I recommend you to join the mailing list at
http://lists.sourceforge.net/mailman/listinfo/avr-ada-devel
or send me some direct email.

   Rolf