Re: Code compatibility of GNAT on Win/NT with other compilers

[Jonas Nygren <ehsjony@ehs.ericsson.se>]

michael@ifr.luftfahrt.uni-stuttgart.de wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> we are currently considering to use GNAT on WindowsNT. One question
> that arises in this context is how compatible GNAT is with other
> compilers. I have almost no experience with the Microsoft world because
> I am a Unix guy. On a Unix machine there is normally only one standard
> object format and only one linker and so it has never been a problem
> for me to mix different languages. But in the Microsoft world this
> seems to be different. Could anybody please shed some light on this.

Michael,

I, too, am a Unix guy. I run a PC with NT and I run Gnat both on PC/NT
and on Unix.

In brief I would recommend you to run on Unix, e.g. Linux. NT is OK if
you are running, Word, Excel, Netscape, a s o. But if you want a
programming environment similar to Unix - it is not possible with NT.
I have installed GNU Win32 , see <http://www.cygnus.com/misc/gnu-win32/>,
but it is to little, IMO. If I were to develop Ada code professionally 
on NT then I'd go for some completely integrated environment, I have seen
Alsys' Active Ada mentioned on the net but know nothing of the product.

Also, it is a bit unclear to what level Gnat NT is supported. It is still
3.01 and 3.03 was promised a month+ ago but nothing has come out. The final 
test will be 3.05 on NT. Trouble reporting seems more responsive on Unix
versus NT. If I suspect a bug on NT I always run it on Unix before
submitting it to report@gnat.com, so that it is submitted as a Unix bug.

I hope my very personal views were of some interest to you and other readers.

/jonas

> 
> Michael
> 
> PS: If possible please answer via e-mail too because I won't be able
>     to read the news for the next few days.
> 
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> --Dipl.-Ing. Michael Paus   (Member: Team Ada)
> --University of Stuttgart, Inst. of Flight Mechanics and Flight Control
> --Forststrasse 86, 70176 Stuttgart, Germany
> --Phone: (+49) 711-121-1434  FAX: (+49) 711-634856
> --Email: Michael.Paus@ifr.luftfahrt.uni-stuttgart.de (NeXT-Mail welcome)