Re: Ada to C translator for small microcontrollers

[kalvin.news@gmail.com]

tiistaina 27. maaliskuuta 2012 20.22.07 UTC+3 an...@att.net kirjoitti:
> Full language translators are mostly used to move a project away from  
> one language to another more accessable language. So, why use Ada in
> the first place.

This is a very valid question. How large a software project needs to be in order to benefit from implementing it in Ada? Is it only a one person prjoect, two person project or project involving a small team. Why bother with Ada as we already have (free) C compiler avaiable.

If the project is a small one, and you don't have to share the code with others, C is just fine. But as soon as the project size get bigger (than a few thousand lines of code, or project contains more than ten source modules) and you need to collaborate with others, my guess is that Ada might be a right tool for the job. Of course, these estimates are pulled top of my head, but are based on a personal experience anyway.
 
> Now, if you add the code for a new processor to GNU GCC and GNAT then 
> most languages are avialable for use. Not just Ada and C/C++, but you 
> can also have Fortran, Java, and etc.

I do not know the internals of GCC, but I am in impression that GCC is optimized for 32/64-bit architectures, and 8/16-bit architectures are hardly supported. I do know, that some Hitachi (and maybe AVR) 8/16-bit controllers are supported, though.

> Plus, before using language translators you should understand that most 
> only aid in the translating a subset of the full language. Like "C2Ada" 
> which partially converted C code to Ada.

I do realize, that it might be almost impossible to produce efficient C source translation for corresponding Ada, compared to corresponding assembly.

- Kalvin