Ada Efficiency

Ada Efficiency

[Mike Miller]

I recently (two days ago) attended a contract review and gave a
short pitch on the use of Ada in a real time graphics environment.
Some of the feedback I got suggested that there is still a perception
in the DoD community (in this case WRDC) that using Ada in a
real time environment introduces significant overhead when compared
with a language such as C; the prevailing mood seemed to be that
Ada compilers would generate inefficient code.  My gut feel is that
compiler technology has improved enough and Ada compilers have
been around long enough that these inefficiency fears are greatly
exaggerated.

In order to respond the next time this kind of issue comes up
(probably next month), I would appreciate hearing any informetion
that is available in regard to the Ada efficiency question.
Anecdotes, benchmarks, etc. are all welcome.

Thanks
- Mike Miller

Re: Ada Efficiency

[Charles H. Sampson]

     As a quick example to counter the idea that Ada is inherently ineffi-
cient, at Tri-Ada '90 in December a paper was presented that claims that
Cray Ada (not yet finished, I think) is outperforming, on benchmarks, Cray
FORTRAN.

                                 Charlie