Re: 30 Years

[cis.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!darwin.sura.net!seas.gwu.edu!mfeld man@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Michael Feldman)]

In article <25rci4$aj1@europa.eng.gtefsd.com> rrenner@mtgy.gtegsc.com writes:
>>
[deleted]

>>You'll like this stuff, especially for the price, but if anyone thinks
>>it's a line-at-a-time interpreter or whatever else interactive/responsive
>>is supposed to mean, they'll be disappointed. What it is, is a really
>>nice, free, Ada83 system for Macs and DOS boxes. Nothing less, nothing more.
>>
>
>You mention here that you will putting out a Mac version of the compiler.  Wha
t version of the Mac operating system will it use?  Could you be more specific 
on the time frame for this version and whether it will full Ada compilation sys
tem.  We are currently stuck on a project where the Compiler vendor we were use
ing for the MacIntosh is not longer supporting that platform.
>
Ummm - sorry. I thought I mentioned that this is a Mac version of Ada/Ed,
like our enhanced DOS Ada/Ed. It's not for real project work, only for
education - the compiler puts out code for a virtual machine, which is
then interpreted.

By "current vendor" I take it you mean Alsys, because they have dropped
(very stupidly, IMHO) their Mac product. The only commercial company making
Ada for Mac is Meridian. Their compiler is fine, at least in my experience,
and works fine with System 7 and includes a "thin" System 7 binding. It
runs under MPW; the MPW basic system is bundled with it.

To my knowledge, this is the only Ada/Mac compiler on the market. Meridian
will start investing in improvements, I presume, if they perceive a market
for it. In my view, nobody ever recently tested the market potential
for Ada on Macs. In the early Mac days, it didn't make sense, but now 
with the typical industrial-strength Mac being a big, pretty fast machine,
Ada could sell if only the vendors would broaden their view.

TeleSoft had an A/UX compiler, but now TeleSoft=Alsys and it's gone,
I think.

Hope this helps.

Mike Feldman
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Michael B. Feldman -  co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5253 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
"We just changed our CONFIG.SYS, then pressed CTRL-ALT-DEL. It was easy."
-- Alexandre Giglavyi, director Lyceum of Information Technologies, Moscow.
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