Re: Ada vs. C

[The Quelisher <kendal@freenet.scri.fsu.edu>]

Robert Dewar wrote:
> That's bogus, comparable programs in Ada and C will generate 
> executables of the same size, at least using a technology like GNAT. 

Ok, so let me explain where I am coming from then. Here is the source in
both languages that does the exact same very basic thing:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
C :
	main()
	{
		printf("Hello world! \n");
	}

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ada :

	WITH Ada.Text_IO; USE Ada.Text_IO;
	PROCEDURE hello IS
	BEGIN
	  Put_line("Hello world!");
	END hello;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

When I compiled each of the above here are the file sizes that resulted:
	C ----> 24,576
	Ada -->	253,952

I used gcc to compile the C code and gnatmake for the Ada code, both on
unix machines. Now that's what I meant by the difference in file sizes.
I understand though that there is a tradeoff between file size and
functionability of a program, but let's take PC's for example. Who wants
to run a 6 mb program written in Ada when a 2mb program written in C
does the same thing? I'm not trying to knock Ada or anything, rather
just making an observation. Again, just my $.02

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