Re: MERIDIAN ADAZ COMPILER

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <17647@shlump.nac.dec.com> nadkarni@ashok.dec.com (Ashok P. Nadkarni) writes:
>
>>Has anyone else received a flyer in the mail from Meridian Software
>>Systems announcing their new, low-cost Ada compiler system AdaZ?
>
>I too would like to know how good this software is. Is it only a `toy' 
>useful for learning but not much else ? Would it be possible to develop
>the same class of applications that can done using MS-C or Turbo C ?
>
The only difference between the $149. AdaZ and the "expensive" 
Meridian system is that AdaZ is real-mode only. For the 386 or protected-
mode code generator you pay more.

This is a REAL Ada system. I know it sounds hard to believe, but it is as
real as any other Ada compiler you'll find. Regarding applications: I see
no reason why you couldn't develop (real-mode) applications just as you
would in C. In the absolute worst case, if there was something you needed
from the machine that AdaZ wouldn;t give you, you could use Meridian's
interface to MS-C, which comes with the system. But given the DOS package
you get, I don't think you'd really need to do that. Whether AdaZ or
TurboC is "better" in any sense, depends on whether you like Ada better
than C or vice versa. Both are genuine software products. I think your
$149. is well spent.

Most Ada compilers are slower (at compile time) than their C counterparts.
This has been discussed at length on this group; it has nothing to do
with AdaZ, only with the different expectations in Ada compilers.
I'd be glad to continue discussions on this by private e-mail.
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Prof. Michael Feldman
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-5253
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu
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