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From: sankar@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Sriram Sankar)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: The Meridian Ada Compiler
Message-ID: <1990May3.173515.824@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 3 May 90 17:35:15 GMT
Sender: sankar@Neon.Stanford.EDU (Sriram Sankar)
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


This message is a follow-up to an earlier message I posted a few weeks
ago on the Meridian Ada compiler.  In the earlier message I mentioned
that I had Meridian's beta version of their 4.0 extended version
compiler, and was having a lot of problems with it.  I also mentioned
that some features like tasking seem to have been implemented quite
*efficiently*.

Since that message, Meridian has sent me a copy of the latest version
of their compiler (both extended and regular).  I've tried it out on a
lot of my programs (including all those with which I had problems
using the earlier compiler).  This compiler does not have any of those
earlier problems.  This message is therefore to retract what I said in
my earlier message.

The new compiler is much faster.  Its the first time I managed to
actually run my windowing system for the PC with Meridian's debugger.
I could have the debugger I/O redirected to a serial port, and get it
displayed on another PC screen (which was running kermit).

Having said all these nice things about the Meridian compiler, I
should also mention that trying out a new compiler on existing
software is only one aspect of evaluating a compiler.  Over the next
month or so, I'll be attempting to develop non-trivial software using
this compiler.  ONLY AFTER I COMPLETE THIS PROJECT WILL I BE WILLING
TO GIVE MY COMPLETE BACKING TO THIS COMPILER.

Sometime early this summer, I hope to complete my evaluation and will
post the results on the newsgroup.  I may also distribute any
interesting software that comes out of this project so that you can
see for yourself the complexity of the programs I've developed.


Sriram Sankar
Research Associate
Computer Systems Lab., ERL449
Stanford University,
Stanford, CA 94305.
(415)723-1835.