Re: Is this ground dead? Also, info on Mach that's more recent

[vonhend@ibm.net]

In <dewar.885087293@merv>, dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar) writes:
>
>Well if you look at chapter 13 and annex C in the RM, you wlil find lots
>of useful stuff for writing low level code, Ada is (perhaps surprisingly
>to some) better equipped for low level programming of this kind than C
>(for example, the ability to lay out records precisely by bit numbers,
>the ability to define interrupt routines, the ability to specify where
>in memory declared variables are located etc).

The C language has provided a syntax for bit fields since the late 70's.
The disadvantage of C's syntax viz Ada's is that you have to explicitly
insert dummy fields in the record if you want non-contiguous fields.
Conversely, C lacks the strong type checking that can make it more
difficult to work with bit fields in Ada.  I write these lines based in
personal experience:  without careful type definition, unchecked conversions
become rampant when Ada is used at the bit level.
Mark Von Hendy
vonhend@ibm.net