Ada Libraries

Ada Libraries

[amiram]

Is there any standard and/or recommended spec for what needs to be
included in an Ada Library system, and how it should be represented?
Any agreement among compiler writers about it?
Amiram Yehudai.

Ada Libraries

[Randy Neff]

Read  "Source Code" by Mark Weisner of Xerox PARC, in IEEE Computer, Nov 87.

This paper is an excellent discussion of why programmers should have reading
access to all source code.   My twenty odd years of programming experience
agrees with his arguements.   I.E. writing an Ada interface to Un*x curses
required reading the source code;  a complete Ada interface to Sun CGI 
was aborted because no source was available.

I have wasted weeks of time with buggy Ada compilers when the error 
messages (like internal assertion error 59) were meaningless.   Having the
source code and debugger would at least allow me to find out what caused
the error and how to write a work around.   No way will I fix the compiler;
it is just that the error messages and documentation are useless.

However, if a vendor wants to cripple the programmers that buy its library by
not providing source code, then here is one note:   the Verdix compiler
library has the source file name, which is used by the debugger.  
Delete or rename the source file and the debugger cannot find it.

Motherhood:   One of the big unanswered questions in CS is how to 
define the word 'guarantee' as in:  "I, the vendor, guarantee that the
specifications are complete, correct, and consistent; and that the 
hidden code I provide is complete, correct, and consistent with the 
specifications."   Unfortunately,  today's state of the art is that the
only trustworthy specification is the machine code; if you trust your
assembler, then the assembly code; if you trust your Ada compiler (I don't),
then the Ada source code.   

Randall Neff @sierra.stanford.edu

Re: Ada Libraries

[Marin David Condic]

O.K. Just to be fair - I did say "GPL-ish". :-) I'd hate to start that whole
GPL/LGPL/GMGPL thing all over again. I was only observing that if someone
were to develop something that hoped to make its way into Ada as a library,
there needs to be some means that makes it very easy for a compiler vendor
just to bundle it up and ship it. (That and it has to be good quality,
general purpose & portable. We could go on for days about all the possible
requirements. For now I'll stick to the licensing issue.)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote in message
news:MaWL6.2162$A07.433578@homer.alpha.net...
> Marin David Condic wrote in message <9domjk$h4t$1@nh.pace.co.uk>...
> >things and put under some sort of GPL-ish license so that compiler
> vendors
> >would be free to distribute it with their product?
>
>
> As far as the license goes, the question is more whether the license
> would allow vendors to distribute it with their compilers. Indeed, I
> would expect a GPL license to PREVENT most of the vendors from
> distributing it. (GPL poisoning, anyone?)
>