Re: Is Apex dead as an environment for Ada & Java?

[jim_snead <basswoodNObaSPAM@my-deja.com.invalid>]

In article <l9E%3.2897$tG2.65404@wbnws01.ne.mediaone.net>, "Steven
Hovater" <nh-ho@mediaone.net> wrote:
> Useless for Ada95? That'll come as a surprise to quite a few of my
> customers. And how do you enforce your architecture?
> Another of the strengths that Apex
> brings is that one can use its subsystems and views to enforce
> your software
> architecture. It's common practice among Apex users to use what
> are called
> "export sets" which allow a user to define the visibility into a
> view, thereby
> preventing unintended and potentially architecture-breaking
> dependencies to be established.

I can enforce quite a bit by using private packages. I can
enforce by using separates. Outside of the private, body and
separates, anything publically visible should be fair game.
Otherwise it sounds like a bad Ada 95 design.

And outside of the Ada 95 language, a lot can be done by layering of
packages. This is a common Java approach as well, since
it doesn't have the same language-supported mechanisms..

> The browsing that Apex does is far beyond what one can get with
> emacs

Somebody mentioned that you can get GNAT to work
with emacs effectively.  In any case, I was under the
impression that emacs was the editor included with Apex, so
that this seems to be a weak advantage.

> (I can't comment on the other environments). One can navigate
> (based on Asis)
> to object and type definitions that the compiler sees - it's not a
> tags-based
> paradigm as in other approaches.

From the sound of it, I don't think the GNAT/emacs is tag-based.

> Finally, as Tom indicated, for tiny projects, Apex _is_ probably
> overkill. BUT -
> imagine a single program library and the sheer impracticality of
> having mega-lines of source code in a single bucket.
> Apex scales.

The source would not be in a single bucket, it can
be spread out over multiple subdirectories or whatever
organizational structure is desired.  With capabilities
like symbolic links, this can give an integrator quite
a bit of flexibility.  I still don't get what is so special
about an Apex subsystem.  I do understand the importance
of having "views" and "histories". These enable one
to get the correct versions of source code out of the
RCS repository.

> Disclaimer: I spend 99% of my time working with Apex and Apex
> embedded projects
> with Rational's customers in the NorthEast.
> Regards,
> Steve
> --
> Steven Hovater
> svh@rational.com
> Software Engineering Consultant
> Phone/fax:781-676-2565/2500
> Rational Software
> Pager: 888-906-2209
> 83 Hartwell Ave, Lexington, MA
> Amateur radio: AA1YH



* Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!