Re: Can Ada be hacked?

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

Hoàng Đình Long wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> The first language I learnt was C. And then I learnt Java, C# 2.0,
> Javascript. I have never seen any language which is as both beautiful
> and safe as Ada. I hate programs with errors. Nowadays, people talk
> too much about Ruby, Python as hacking tools. Hacking seems to be
> overrated. And where is Ada? I really don't want to see Ada in only
> embedded system. I want to see it in daily life.

I agree.

> There is a project called AuroraUX, which is written in Ada. But that
> project is too large for me to involve.
>
> I think Ada community should spend more time on opensource software.
> That's the best way to make Ada more popular.

I agree but there are only 24 hours in a day.

> Why don't you make a new browser in Ada?

Why don't you?

"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for
your country." -- J.F. Kennedy.

> Google Chrome, IE, Firefox are written in C++. They
> are hacked all the time. Isn't it wonderful if there is a browser
> which can not be hacked? Just think about this, an operating system
> like AuroraUX require too much effort. But a browser require much less
> effort (at least I think so).

You are both right and wrong.  If you think an operating system such
as AuroraUX must contain a browser then you are right.  But that does
not need to be so.  Even a general-purpose operating system written in
Ada could be made to run existing browsers instead of reinventing
one.  Also, writing a browser is not trivial, even in Ada.  Mozilla
Firefox was 2.5 million lines of code last time I looked, which was
years ago, so probably much more than that now.  And that's not
counting any plugins.

AuroraUX is small enough today that a single human can understand all
of it.  So is OS Lovelace (http://www.lovelace.fr), if you care.

There are also many other Free Software projects of "small" size where
you could contribute usefully.  Here are a few examples of projects
that would greatly benefit from your contributions:

* OpenToken
* Ada Cryptographic Framework (1)
* Ada Cryptographic Objects (1)
* Ada Crypto Library (1)
* AdaSSH
* Distributed Ada Web Server
* OpenCAGE
* Sly Kernel

(1) One of these should probably become "the standard".

--
Ludovic Brenta.