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From: kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen)
Subject: Re: Can Ada95 interface with C++?
Date: 1997/02/11
Message-ID: <1997Feb11.153355.1@eisner>#1/1
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references: <5csvbd$ia2@top.mitre.org> <32F60684.59E2@gslink.net>
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newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1997-02-11T00:00:00+00:00
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In article <tx1bu9rp8sr.fsf@cygnus.com>, Ken Raeburn <raeburn@cygnus.com> writes:
> 
> People have been saying "yes you can do it", but I'm wondering how
> it's done, since Annex B only talks about C, COBOL, and Fortran.
> 
> Does it require programmers in both languages to use C-compatible
> interfaces for anything to be shared?  Or can Ada interface with
> "real" C++ code?

Ada implementors realize there is demand for C++ interoperation,
and are likely to attempt some sort of compatibility.

Neither implementors nor the Ada standard, however, can stipulate
C++ compatibility because there is not yet an international standard
for the C++ language.  Even for a particular existing C++ product,
it would not be wise for an Ada vendor to make sweeping compatibility
claims because that C++ vendor is likely to go off and change their
implementation whenever a C++ standard arrives.

> with virtual functions be described to an Ada compiler?  (I think
> telling the Ada compiler *which* C++ implementation is being used, on
> platforms supporting multiple incompatible ones, might be a reasonable
> concession; just no low-level details.)

I can vote for that approach as well, since I also do not have to
implement a compiler :-)

> I've only just started learning about Ada, so I don't know how well
> the C++ constructs correspond to the Ada features I have yet to learn.

www.adahome.com points to at least one document comparing the two
languages which seems to give a valuable description of Ada in
terms which should be familiar to C++ programmers.

Larry Kilgallen