Rational vs SunAda

Rational vs SunAda

[David Chase]

My company is currently in the process of acquiring Ada development
tools to support a new project. We budgeted for SunAda but I believe
that this is the same as Rational Ada. I have had difficulty in trying
to get answers from Sun and Rational concerning whether the offerings
from both are the same and even whether the current version is validated
Ada95. If so, I would also like to know whether Ada83 compatibility can
be enforced through pragmas or compiler switches.

If anyone has experience with these products, I'd appreciate some help.
You can post here or Email me at lincom@ultranet.com.
Thanks.

Dave Chase

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[David Mercer]

Apex v2.0.8F is the latest and Rational only supports a Small subset
of the 95 extensions.  Enforcement of 83 is simply a switch in the
environment.

I would look at Thompson Software for a validates 95 compiler.  I hear
that their Object Ada is pretty good.

DAve


David Chase <lincom@ultranet.com> wrote:

>My company is currently in the process of acquiring Ada development
>tools to support a new project. We budgeted for SunAda but I believe
>that this is the same as Rational Ada. I have had difficulty in trying
>to get answers from Sun and Rational concerning whether the offerings
>from both are the same and even whether the current version is validated
>Ada95. If so, I would also like to know whether Ada83 compatibility can
>be enforced through pragmas or compiler switches.
>
>If anyone has experience with these products, I'd appreciate some help.
>You can post here or Email me at lincom@ultranet.com.
>Thanks.
>
>Dave Chase

--
Dave Mercer, MEng, PEng
Software Kinetics Ltd.
65 Iber Road
Stittsville, Ontario, Canada
K2S 1E7

Ph.  613-831-0888
Fax. 613-831-1836
EMail. dave.mercer@sofkin.ca

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[David Emery]

I'd use GNAT...

				dave
--
<.sig is away on vacation>

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Jerome Desquilbet]

Hello,

Sun and Rational Ada 83 compilers are the roughly the same (developped
by Rational). Sun's compiler is SunAda and Rational's compiler is VADS.
There are Ada 83 compilers.

The Rational Ada 95 IDE is Apex
(see http://www.rational.com/pst/products/apexada.html).

  Jerome.

______________________________________________________________________
Jerome Desquilbet                             jDesquilbet@Rational.COM
 ' ^

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[James Squire]

Jerome Desquilbet wrote:

> Sun and Rational Ada 83 compilers are the roughly the same (developped
> by Rational). Sun's compiler is SunAda and Rational's compiler is VADS.
> There are Ada 83 compilers.

I could have sworn SunAda WAS VADS, especially since VADS stands for 
Verdix Ada Development System, and since Sun only markets it.

I stop short of disputing the "horse's mouth", but my impression was that 
Rational's Ada 83 compiler is the one in Apex and is quite different than 
VADS.
-- 
James Squire                             mailto:jsquire@mdc.com
MDA Avionics Tools & Processes
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace              http://www.mdc.com/
Opinions expressed here are my own and NOT my company's
"The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say 
what
 I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast, I got transferred to an
 outpost so far off the starmap, you couldn't find it with a hunting dog
 and a Ouiji board."
	-- Sinclair, "Infection"

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Dennison]

James Squire wrote:
> 
> Jerome Desquilbet wrote:
> 
> > Sun and Rational Ada 83 compilers are the roughly the same (developped
> > by Rational). Sun's compiler is SunAda and Rational's compiler is VADS.
> > There are Ada 83 compilers.
> 
> I could have sworn SunAda WAS VADS, especially since VADS stands for
> Verdix Ada Development System, and since Sun only markets it.
> 
> I stop short of disputing the "horse's mouth", but my impression was that
> Rational's Ada 83 compiler is the one in Apex and is quite different than
> VADS.

I believe the piece of the puzzle that you are missing is that Rational BOUGHT
Verdix a few years ago. Thus Rational now sells VADS, Apex (and on some
platforms, Meridian) Ada compilers.

Sun, rather than make their own Ada compiler (like DEC with DECAda), sells a 
VADS compiler repackaged as "SunAda".

> "The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say
> what
>  I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast, I got transferred to an
>  outpost so far off the starmap, you couldn't find it with a hunting dog
>  and a Ouiji board."

"Zog."

-- 
email    - mailto:dennison@iag.net
homepage - http://www.iag.net/~dennison

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[James Squire]

Dennison wrote:

> I believe the piece of the puzzle that you are missing is that Rational BOUGHT
> Verdix a few years ago. Thus Rational now sells VADS, Apex (and on some
> platforms, Meridian) Ada compilers.

No, I have that piece and I assumed everyone else did too.

> Sun, rather than make their own Ada compiler (like DEC with DECAda), sells a
> VADS compiler repackaged as "SunAda".

I believe I already said that.

> > "The last time I gave an interview, they told me to just relax and say
> > what
> >  I really felt. Ten minutes after the broadcast, I got transferred to an
> >  outpost so far off the starmap, you couldn't find it with a hunting dog
> >  and a Ouiji board."
> 
> "Zog."

And your reply to my posting is just as articulate as this reply by the 
"First Ones" ;-)

My point was that the person from Rational was implying that Rational Ada 
(which is part of APEX) = VADS, and I was contesting that.  Does that 
make it more clear?

On the other hand I may be the one that is confused, I don't know.  You 
see, to me Rational Ada is the one in APEX, and VADS is a separate 
development environment apart from APEX and I still assume that it is a 
different compiler.  However, I'm beginning to think that when the 
original poster asked about Rational Ada, he may have meant VADS.  If so, 
then maybe I should just mind my own business ;-)
-- 
James Squire                             mailto:jsquire@mdc.com
MDA Avionics Tools & Processes
McDonnell Douglas Aerospace              http://www.mdc.com/
Opinions expressed here are my own and NOT my company's
"On Narn, we heard the decision to surrender came from your holy men. A
 secret group called the Gray Council. Weak, frightened old fools with
 no vision or the will to fight."
	-- G'Kar (to Delenn), "The Gathering"

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Dennison]

James Squire wrote:
> 

> My point was that the person from Rational was implying that Rational Ada
> (which is part of APEX) = VADS, and I was contesting that.  Does that
> make it more clear?

Yes. But technicaly VADS and APEX are now BOTH "Rational Ada" (which was my 
point). That makes it perfectly legitimate (although confusing) to call VADS
"Rational Ada".

I'd make an equation to illustrate my point like you did, but my keyboard
doesn't have the "is a subset of" character.  :-)

-- 
email    - mailto:dennison@iag.net
homepage - http://www.iag.net/~dennison

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[David Taylor]

Dennison wrote:
> 
> James Squire wrote:
> >
> 
> > My point was that the person from Rational was implying that Rational Ada
> > (which is part of APEX) = VADS, and I was contesting that.  Does that
> > make it more clear?
> 
> Yes. But technicaly VADS and APEX are now BOTH "Rational Ada" (which was my
> point). That makes it perfectly legitimate (although confusing) to call VADS
> "Rational Ada".
> 
> I'd make an equation to illustrate my point like you did, but my keyboard
> doesn't have the "is a subset of" character.  :-)
> 
> --
> email    - mailto:dennison@iag.net
> homepage - http://www.iag.net/~dennison

One way of telling the difference between VADS and APEX is 
checking to see whether or not the "Def" or "Show Usage 
(World)" keys work on your keyboard.

dt

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Samuel Tardieu]

>>>>> "David" == David Chase <lincom@ultranet.com> writes:

David> My company is currently in the process of acquiring Ada
David> development tools to support a new project. We budgeted for
David> SunAda but I believe that this is the same as Rational Ada. I
David> have had difficulty in trying to get answers from Sun and
David> Rational concerning whether the offerings from both are the
David> same and even whether the current version is validated
David> Ada95. If so, I would also like to know whether Ada83
David> compatibility can be enforced through pragmas or compiler
David> switches.

The company I was working for last year was using SunAda. Each time we
had to call the hotline because of a compiler bug, the call has been
redirected directly to Rational. So, if you want not to loose 1 day
each time you find a bug, I'd suggest you buy the compiler directly
from Rational.

During the whole year (from 95/09 to 96/08), I've compiled the same
code on SunAda, Thomsoft and GNAT compilers. While SunAda was probably
the best compiler at the beginning, GNAT has been chosen to go on
because of the stability of the 3.05 release, even for Ada83 code.

AFAIK, GNAT is not validated yet for Sun because noone paid for
it. You should contact support@gnat.com (right address ?) to get more
information about the validation process.

Hope this helps.

  Sam
-- 
  Samuel Tardieu -- sam@ada.eu.org

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Robert Dewar]

Sam said

  "AFAIK, GNAT is not validated yet for Sun because noone paid for
  it. You should contact support@gnat.com (right address ?) to get more
  information about the validation process."

Right, GNAT is not yet validated on Solaris. The reason that Sam gives
is not quite right--it's more a simple matter of priorities and
scheduling.

Our plan is to validate a number of implementations
later this calendar year, including probably the Sun/Solaris port. We
will aim at 100% passage of all tests in the core and *all* optional
special needs annexes.

Our current status is that we are passing 100% of the basic C tests, virtually
all the B tests, and we are about 30 tests short on the Ada 95 C tests (that
figure includes the core and all the special needs annexes). We see no major
problems in passing these last few tests.

Robert Dewar
Ada Core Technologies

Re: Rational vs SunAda

[Greg Baker]

David Chase <lincom@ultranet.com> writes:
> My company is currently in the process of acquiring Ada development
> tools to support a new project. We budgeted for SunAda but I believe
> that this is the same as Rational Ada. I have had difficulty in trying
> to get answers from Sun and Rational concerning whether the offerings
> from both are the same and even whether the current version is validated
> Ada95. If so, I would also like to know whether Ada83 compatibility can
> be enforced through pragmas or compiler switches.
> 
> If anyone has experience with these products, I'd appreciate some help.
> You can post here or Email me at lincom@ultranet.com.
> Thanks.
>

On a mildly related topic,  I can relate reasonably joy and happiness
using Xemacs + GNAT under Solaris.  I don't know what extra things
Rational provides (so I don't know what I'm missing out on),  but I
would happily recommend my *free* development environment to anyone.

-- 
Gregory D. Baker        gbaker@rp.csiro.au         CSIRO Radiophysics 
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