Re: Java vs Ada 95 (Was Re: Once again, Ada absent from DoD SBIR solicitation)

["Samuel T. Harris" <s_harris@gsde.hso.link.com>]

Jon S Anthony wrote:
> 
> In article <325FFB39.15A4@io.com> davedave@io.com writes:
> 
> > Robert Dewar wrote:
> > >
> > > "Garbage collection, by itself, is significant enough for one to
> > > seriously consider choosing Java over Ada for projects which do not
> > > require low-level timing control.
> > > "
> > >
> > > Nope, that does not make any sense. Any project for which Java is currently
> > > suitable could equally well be done in Ada using the Intermetrics compiler
> > > to JBC, which has identical garbage collection capability.
> >
> > An excellent idea Robert -- except for one big problem:  Engineers who are
> > trying to build reliable, commercial products don't generally like to use
> > proucts which are still in beta.
> 
> Hmmm, it would appear that you don't know Java as well as you might
> think.  The whole thing is basically in beta.  Certainly the JVM
> spec. available at the Sun Java web site specifically states this.  So, I suppose you wouldn't want to use _any_ thing "Java"...
> 

All the beta talk is making me dizzy
(in an alpha kind of way :)

The core of a application written with
AppletMagic can also be run/tested on
a validated Ada compiler producing
native code. This does present problems
in any areas where calls to any java.*
packaged provided by AppletMagic since
these do not exist in other Ada95
implementations. Fortunately, a project
I'm working on has a clear delineation
between the application itself and the
UI component, so I can proceed with the
hardest work with whatever compiler I
want and limit my "beta-risk" to just
the relatively simple UI component.

Other projects may not be so fortunate.
But variant code in the UI component
is nothing new. Ask anyone who codes
for Mac vs MS-Windows vs X-Windows.
In fact, applications which have a
loosely coupled UI component can have
a native portion and leave the UI in
the JVM.

From a distribution point of view in
the Ada95 world, technologies such
as AppletMagic are prime value-added
additions to the development environment.
It allows me to distribute any application
to anyone with access to a JVM. I can then
provide higher-performance native versions
of that application (with mostly the same
code) as customer needs (and their money)
justifies the effort.

Thus my supported environment list
would read ...

Platform X, OS Y, Windowing system Z
...
Anything with Netscape
Anything with MSIE
Anything with Appletviewer

-- 
Samuel T. Harris, Senior Engineer
Hughes Training, Inc. - Houston Operations
2224 Bay Area Blvd. Houston, TX 77058-2099
"If you can make it, We can fake it!"