Re: Free Optimizing Ada Compiler

[rharwood@east.pima.edu]

In article <1991May9.175544.11853@beaver.cs.washington.edu>,
pattis@june.cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) writes:

> I don't have any information comparing Ada vs C based on the total number of
> compiles it takes to get a program correct. While it is easy to measure the
> absolute speed of a C and Ada compiler, the more important quantity to measure
> is how long it takes the student to get a working program (summing all the
> compile times he/she uses).

I LOVE the bits of wisdom that come from these discussions!  I remember working
on a project 3 years ago where the data-base CSCI programmers changed the
orders of the parameters in all the data-base calls (naturally, the FORTRAN
compiler couldn't care less)... AND they neglected to tell the users of the
other 6 CSCIs!  This change wasn't caught for weeks (for reasons I'll not go
into).

Same people, working on another project a year later, AGONIZED over ONE change
to "the intermodule interfaces" because recompiling the package specs required
recompiling 3 complete Ada libraries... and "hunting down" all those places
that would subsequently require alteration in response to the change.  Yes,
eventually, the change was made, but ONLY AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATION!

Students should learn experience this early in their programming careers.  I'll
not climb atop my soapbox, but I will repeat a statement a collegue made
recently: "I gave up trying to be 'real-world' in the classroom long ago."
<sigh>
-----
Ray Harwood           |Data Basix           |Associate Faculty,    
Voice: (602)721-1988  |PO Box 18324         |   Pima Community College
FAX:   (602)721-7240  |Tucson, AZ 85731     |Instructor in Ada and Pascal
CompuServe: 76645,1370|AppleLink: DATA.BASIX|Internet: rharwood@east.pima.edu