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: 103376,3ccb707f4c91a5f2 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: davedave@io.com Subject: Re: Java vs Ada 95 (Was Re: Once again, Ada absent from DoD SBIR solicitation) Date: 1996/10/12 Message-ID: <325FF8D0.6660@io.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 189014784 references: <325BC3B3.41C6@hso.link.com> cc: davedave@io.com content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: GTE Intelligent Network Services, GTE INS mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.ada x-mailer: Mozilla 2.02 (Win95; I) Date: 1996-10-12T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Jon S Anthony wrote: > > But *languages* don't have GC. Implementations of them do. Even > Meyer says little about GC in ETL - just that all *implementations* > are *expected* to have it. > Yes, that is correct: Languages do not have garbage collectors -- implementations do. (In fact, according to the copy of ETL which I have, garbage collection is merely recommended -- not required -- for Eiffel implementations.) So, strictly speaking, I was wrong when I said that Java is a language with garbage collection and Ada is not. However, suppose you were in the position of a software engineer who needed to choose between Java and Ada. Suppose also that garbage collection was high on your list of "must haves". Well, you could wait until Intermetric's Applet Magic gets out of beta (and becomes available on your platform). Or you could pay someone to write an add-on garbage collector for your compiler and hope that they finish on-time. Or you could get a Java (or Eiffel or Smalltalk or Lisp) system and start working now. If you were in this situation, then from your viewpoint, it might make sense to say that Java has garbage collection and Ada does not. Nevertheless, you are correct: Strictly speaking, neither language has garbage collection. *** The world would be a much better place if we would all express ourselves with greater clarity and precision, so thanks to Jon -- and everyone else -- for pointing out my error. *** BTW: I have heard that, for C++, someone has written a garbage collector which can be added to almost any C++ program. Would it be any more difficult to do the same thing for Ada95? I would certainly look forward to such a product. IMHO, memory management is something that a machine should do (whenever possible) -- freeing up humans to do things which require more skill and creativity. Thanks again for pointing out my error. -- Dave Jones