Re: Meridian Ada Compiler for the Mac

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

In article <1991Jan11.144517@magic.Berkeley.EDU> yow@magic.Berkeley.EDU (Billy Yow 283-4009) writes:
>> Does anyone have technical information on Maridian's Ada compiler for
>> the Mac, AdaZ.  At $149.00 (till the end of the month) the price is
>> right
>
>The AdaZ product is for the PC.  I don't believe there is an AdaZ
>version for the Mac.  Anyone else know?
>
Meridian has not announced an AdaZ equivalent for the Mac, but I have heard
them say they intend to do something similar. They were recently allowing
students and teachers to purchase their Mac AdaVantage, which is an MPW-
based system (with MPW bundled) for $200. I'd recommend calling Claudia
Coleman at Meridian (800-221-2522) to get a reading from her on what the
current policy is. 

I have discussed the matter of the Mac system with them a number of times,
over several years. At this point, they are not inclined to pull their
system out from under MPW; their feeling seems to be that serious Mac
programmers will have no trouble using MPW and that Ada is for serious Mac
programmers. Clearly they aren't (yet) seeing the virtue of getting Ada into
those schools that are heavy into Macs because they like the Mac user
interface, which MPW "end-runs" to a large degree (although this is a 
religious matter we needn't debate here, please). If you think a double-
clickable Mac Ada, not tied to MPW, would be a good idea, let Meridian know
and help 'em understand what the potential customer base would be.

There is _not one_ Ada system of this kind in existence: all Mac Ada's
are either MPW-bound or A/UX-bound. Need this be so?

Mike Feldman