From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,9210a2a5dca49a21,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Robert C. Leif, Ph.D." Subject: Re: Operating system Date: 1997/10/26 Message-ID: <3.0.3.32.19971026142426.0074bf04@mail.4dcomm.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 285940872 Sender: Ada programming language References: <3.0.32.19971025231231.00694bc8@mail.geocities.com> Comments: cc: chat@thames.gnat.com X-Sender: rleif@mail.4dcomm.com Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-10-26T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: To: Jason Morefield et al. From: Bob Leif, Ph.D. At 11:14 PM 10/25/97 -0700, you wrote: >can a person make an operating system with Ada? Since your question was general and not limited to GNAT, I cross-posted my answer to Comp.Lang.Ada. Yes! The Ada community should have or should now create an operating system or significant part thereof in Ada. The core of the operating system should be in Ada for multi-tasking and/or real-time systems. The file system should be based on a database like Sage-ST (AdaSage). Since Ada interfaces with C, much of Linux or Minix could be reused, of course, with the appropriate copyright permissions. Other possibilities are to extend Microsoft Windows CE or recode Wirth's Oberon system in Ada 95. Many of the Ada compiler manufacturers seem to be totally oblivious to the obvious facts that the number of users for Ada compilers is limited and the number of users for the products produced by Ada compilers could be very large. Therefore, in order to obtain a decent return on capital, a vendor should sell something that because it is used by the ultimate customer for the Ada software can result in a large amount of money which is based on a small royalty charge for each sale. Microsoft makes much more money from its applications than its compilers. One interesting part of the Ada story is PC users do NOT program using compilers. Spreadsheets are far superior tools for many commercial applications. Unfortunately, very little software engineering has been applied to spreadsheets. The use of decimal types and unique names for rows and columns are obvious first steps. In short, it is time for the Ada community to employ Ada to create new applications which take advantage of the power of Ada 95. Coad was absolutely correct when he said, "The language shows through.'