Re: Meridian Ada Compiler for the Mac

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

In article <9101171940.AA06518@winnie.fit.edu> saharbaugh%roo.dnet@WINNIE.BERKELEY.EDU writes:

>Yes, its much much faster on a IIci (25MHZ 68030) than on Mac+
>-Another breakthrough. A decent Mac compiler for $149. is a welcome event.
>So my message is to give MPW a try, you might like it.
>
Looking at Ada, as I almost always do, from a teacher's viewpoint, I am
saying that I have (personally) no problem with MPW or with an MPW Ada;
rather, I have a problem with imposing it on freshmen, especially in today's
world of Turbo Pascal or Think Pascal (or their C equivalents). There is
a time to stick students with all the complexities of a professional
developer's interface, and a time not to. Their first semester is NOT the
time. I have spoken to a number of educators recently, including my own
GW colleagues, who believe that the lack of a development environment
as fast and friendly as Borland's is REALLY hurting Ada in the world of
education. AdaZ is on the right track; it'll do in a pinch. An MPW-
embedded Ada will NOT do for beginners. I've tried it and from that
perspective, I DON'T like it. 

Where is "Think Ada"? Our friends in the Ada vendor world have, as usual,
created a self-fulfilling prophecy by assuming that there is no market for
such a thing. Meridian has been very surprised by the 5000 or so copies
of AdaZ they have sold since November. I'm glad for Meridian, and I'm
glad for Ada, that the thing has sold so well. Perhaps this will send
the right message that the Mac wouldn't be such a bad thing to try either.

There are lots of good Mac programmers, especially around California,
who could port an MPW-embedded compiler to the native system and make it
beginner-friendly. Somehow we've GOT to debunk the myth that Ada is only
for DoD professionals, but the Ada community really needs to help. The
only reason why Think Pascal can run on a 1meg machine, with all its units,
objects, etc., but Ada needs a humongous Mac and MPW to compile "hello,"
is that Think's creators decided to make it work and there's no equivalent
to Think (yet...) in the Ada world. Any takers? Let's swap ideas.

Mike Feldman