Re: Compiler for Windows-95?

[kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <54tntd$7jp@data.csw.net>, kthompso@CSWNET.COM (Kenn E. Thompson) writes:
> It's been years since I studied Ada.  Is there a freeware compiler
> available on the web?

www.gnat.com has pointers.

>                        What ever happened to index file structures
> being part of a native language?  Of course, I can write index files,
> but my code is not as effecient as the code generated by a compiler.

No such capability was included in the Ada 95 revision of the standard,
but many elements more needed for portability were included.  One comment
in a recent discussion of indexed files was that a relational database
could be used to provide the capabilities of an indexed file system.

The SQL interface should be relatively portable between machines,
and database vendors probably do a better job at efficiency of
implementation that Ada vendors would do.  Most implementations
of SQL are not free, but one of the major advances in Ada 95 is
a portable interface to software written in C.  If you cannot find
any free implementation of SQL written in Ada, you might be able to
find one written in C.

> BTW, is Ada still the official language of the DOD?

To a certain extent, but waivers are granted to use other languages.
Some Ada supporters feel that mandated government use is now not so
important as having Ada used in a variety of settings on the basis
of technical superiority.  Keep reading this newsgroup and you will
hear more than you can stand about that topic.

Larry Kilgallen