* Meridian AdaStudent
@ 1990-05-06 22:09 Paul A. Varner
1990-05-07 21:52 ` Mike Feldman
0 siblings, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Paul A. Varner @ 1990-05-06 22:09 UTC (permalink / raw)
To whomever can help me:
I am thinking of buying the Merdian Ada Student compiler and I was
wondering how limited of an Ada compiler it is. I don't plan on using it
for heavy development work, but more for exploring the Ada language.
Please E-mail your responses and I will summarize and post if there is
enough interest. Thanks in advance.
pvarner@blackbird.afit.af.mil
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: Meridian AdaStudent
1990-05-06 22:09 Meridian AdaStudent Paul A. Varner
@ 1990-05-07 21:52 ` Mike Feldman
1990-05-08 17:20 ` Terry J. Westley
1990-05-09 14:31 ` Melvyn J Brauns
0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Mike Feldman @ 1990-05-07 21:52 UTC (permalink / raw)
In article <1584@blackbird.afit.af.mil> pvarner@blackbird.afit.af.mil (Paul A. Varner) writes:
>To whomever can help me:
> I am thinking of buying the Merdian Ada Student compiler and I was
>wondering how limited of an Ada compiler it is. I don't plan on using it
>for heavy development work, but more for exploring the Ada language.
>Please E-mail your responses and I will summarize and post if there is
>enough interest. Thanks in advance.
Many of my students have purchased AdaStudent and been quite happy with it.
It is a full implementation of Ada with a few exceptions, necessary to give
Meridian a way to differentiate it from the expensive version. To summarize:
- chapter 13 support is not there, so you can't explore rep-specs, interrupt
entries, and the like. This is an interestng part of the language, but
there's a lot of Ada to explore without it. Until recently, many "full"
compilers didn't do chapter 13 very well, either.
- there is a limit on the number of libraries (other than the "normal"
user's own Ada library). This is an inoffensive restriction, as there is
no real limitation on the size of your own library. I think you can
link to 1 or 2 additional ones; I would be more definitive if I could find
my documentation in my messy office.
- they have not (yet) implemented their version 4 runtime system in AdaStudent.
This means that tasking is run-till-blocked, not pre-emptive. I don't have
a clear answer on whether Meridian will implement it or not. I imagine they
will, as it's less expensive for them to maintain one version than two.
- Tasking and generics, and everything else not mentioned, is fully implemented. The compiler appears to be the full one, stripped down as above. Because
of the stripping, it is not validatable.
IMHO, AdaStudent is a good investment of $50.00; the next step up is
AdaGraduate, which is $495. For your $50.00, you get a serviceable and
sufficiently fast compiler, binder, and debugger, which should carry you
a long way in exploring the language. I don't usually write public reviews
of compilers (versions change too fast) but I think AdaStudent is a very
good deal.
If you want to spring some more money, ($249. I think), you might consider
Academic IntegrAda from AETech. It is a Janus/Ada compiler with a Turbo-like
development environment wrapped around it. Also some useful DOS libraries.
I am using it to develop lots of little Ada programs for a book. I'm
pretty happy with it overall. Either package is worthwhile. In my opinion,
if Meridian had an environment like IntegrAda, it would really be dynamite.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof. Michael Feldman
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
+1-202-994-5253
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: Meridian AdaStudent
1990-05-07 21:52 ` Mike Feldman
@ 1990-05-08 17:20 ` Terry J. Westley
1990-05-09 14:31 ` Melvyn J Brauns
1 sibling, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Terry J. Westley @ 1990-05-08 17:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
In article <1845@sparko.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu () writes:
>IMHO, AdaStudent is a good investment of $50.00; the next step up is
>AdaGraduate, which is $495. For your $50.00, you get a serviceable and
>sufficiently fast compiler, binder, and debugger, which should carry you
>a long way in exploring the language. I don't usually write public reviews
>of compilers (versions change too fast) but I think AdaStudent is a very
>good deal.
>Prof. Michael Feldman
Meridian:
Please make an equivalent package for the Mac. It doesn't need to
access the Mac Toolbox. I, for one, would buy it. I was forced to buy
the ~$120 Janus and use borrowed PCs even though I have a Mac at home.
Now, I don't have such easy access to PCs.
--
Terry J. Westley
Arvin/Calspan Advanced Technology Center
P.O. Box 400, Buffalo, NY 14225
acsu.buffalo.edu!planck!hercules!westley
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: Meridian AdaStudent
1990-05-07 21:52 ` Mike Feldman
1990-05-08 17:20 ` Terry J. Westley
@ 1990-05-09 14:31 ` Melvyn J Brauns
1 sibling, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Melvyn J Brauns @ 1990-05-09 14:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
We have an employee (who is also on the faculty of Nat'l Univ locally)
who's been teaching Ada for about 10 years now. He uses the Meridian
and would probably be glad to share some of his experiences with you on
its use. He's not normally on this net, so voice contact is a better
choice. His name is Ken Gamble, and you can reach him (at Ford
Aerospace, Space Systems Division, Palo Alto, CA) at 415/852-4337.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 4+ messages in thread
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1990-05-06 22:09 Meridian AdaStudent Paul A. Varner
1990-05-07 21:52 ` Mike Feldman
1990-05-08 17:20 ` Terry J. Westley
1990-05-09 14:31 ` Melvyn J Brauns
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