Re: Ada's (in)visibility in the engineering community

[mcsun!news.funet.fi!network.jyu.fi!sakkinen@uunet.uu.net (Markku Sakkine]

In article <1992Oct5.195015.128@fcom.cc.utah.edu> val@news.ccutah.edu (Val Kart
chner) writes:
>sakkinen@jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) writes:
>: In article <1992Sep25.210409.23219@fcom.cc.utah.edu> val@news.ccutah.edu (Va
l Kartchner) writes:
>: > ...
>: >A major superiority claim can be made on behalf of C's real-time ability ov
er
>: >Ada's real-time ability in that families of commerically viable (meaning
>: >actually FAST) operating systems have been written using C.  While it may b
e
>: > ...
>: 
>: Please, tell us even _one_ real-time feature of C !
>
> [long rambling about dictionary definitions etc. deleted)]
>Note: none of the above definitions specifies any requirements for "real-time"
.
>However, they all heavily imply that speed is VERY important in "real-time".
>In "Ada Versus C++: A Business Case Analysis" (this should be an acceptably
>biased souce of information for this group), says that C and C++ both
>score higher (are faster) in run-time speed.
>
>However, contrary to common English usage, the same report says that Ada has
>a better real-time score.  This apparent contradiction can most easily be
>resolved by concluding that Ada has a definition for "real-time" which differs
>from common English usage.

So, according to your reasoning, "speed" is the _only_ real-time characteristic
that matters (and be it just 1% faster).  You will not find many supporters.

>sakkinen@jyu.fi (Markku Sakkinen) writes:
>: Please, tell us even _one_ real-time feature of C !
>Please, first explain these three things to me:
>
>   1 - What is the definition of "real-time" which Ada uses?
> ...

No, it was you who originally touted "the superior real-time capabilities
of C".  I don't even force a definition of 'real-time' upon you.
If _you_ have any definition of 'real-time' which is not totally
ridiculous (like "speed"), please tell us one real-time feature of C
according to that definition.  To support your original claim,
that feature should be better than what Ada has, although I originally
didn't demand even that.
(You are free to look in appropriate books, of course.)

>Now that that has been addressed, my original point is that C and (by
>inheritance) C++ are commercial real-time successes.  If you doubt this
> [rambling totally beside the point deleted]

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Markku Sakkinen (sakkinen@jytko.jyu.fi)
       SAKKINEN@FINJYU.bitnet (alternative network address)
Department of Computer Science and Information Systems
University of Jyvaskyla (a's with umlauts)
PL 35
SF-40351 Jyvaskyla (umlauts again)
Finland
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