Re: a new language, designed for safety !

[Lucretia <laguest9000@googlemail.com>]

On Tuesday, 10 June 2014 13:28:33 UTC+1, Simon Clubley  wrote:

> Apple's customers) would probably find Ada too stifling.
> 
> This is also one of the reasons why we don't see a large Ada uptake
> in other areas even though GNAT has been freely available for years.

The name and the history of the language don't help either.

> (The other reasons include the restricted set of host and target
> platforms for Ada when compared to C and the fact the nicely

the fact that the FSF version has been crippled on purpose to stop the building of certain said targets, you mean?

> pre-packaged ACT version of GNAT is licenced under the GPL instead
> of the GMGPL.)

This is a major problem actually. With GCC C/C++/.Obj-C/etc., someone can come along and just write a mobile app and sell it without any fear of being sued as you didn't release the source. Not so with ACT's GPL'd GNAT, all because they want people to shell out a stupid amount of money for support, which people writing mobile apps just cannot afford. The fact that they now release all their libs as GPL is just a joke as well; may as well say "we'll make sure nobody uses Ada for anything but trains, planes and bombs."

> For general programming for which C would be used, if you want to get
> your typical C progammer using something safer than C, I still think
> my Oberon-14 idea represents the general path to take: create a
> "safer", not "safe", language with some of the basic Ada concepts
> transplanted into it and which is easy for a C programmer to learn.

I have thought of something similar. I'll have to try to find your idea and take a look.

> Such a language must be _easy_ to port to a wide range of host and
> target platforms and you must be able to replace existing library
> code written in C with code written in your new language without
> disturbing the rest of the application.
> 
> Once you have them exposed to a "safer" programming mindset, _then_
> you can introduce them to Ada for the bigger stuff.

I've actually considered just foregoing Ada and trying to create a language better than the C's and other derived languages but applying ideas from Ada.

This thought keeps stopping me from progressing any of my Ada projects, including game creation ones.

Luke.