From: "Samuel T. Harris" <sam_harris@hso.link.com>
Subject: Re: Fortran or Ada?
Date: 1998/09/24
Date: 1998-09-24T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <360A8A1A.3019288B@hso.link.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 98092310454016@psavax.pwfl.com
Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96 wrote:
>
> Oh, sure, if you leave in checks that Fortran doesn't perform,
> you'll see Ada code that is slower. But I don't know of any Ada
> compilers where you can't disable those checks and run without the
> safety net if speed is an issue. (We do it regularly around here
> for our real time control systems.) Also, I've heard tell of
> Fortran compilers that included support for specialized hardware
> (the Cray comes to mind) where they could generate extremely fast
> code to, say, multiply vectors and such. But that's a little like
> cheating since you are talking about a customized compiler for a
> very narrow niche. One could do the same with an Ada compiler, but
> you'd have to be spending the money to build it for the same niche
> and that might not make economic sense.
>
While I was in the Air Force, on of my jobs was review of Ada
waivers for Military Airlift Command. One came across my desk
concerning the (then) new DPS-90 computers from Honeywell.
These monsters sported (then) bleeding edge vector/matrix
processors. The FORTRAN compiler which came with the machine
fully supported this new technology. The Ada compiler from
Honeywell did not (which was not surprising judging from
their other offerings I was exposed to).
A new project wanted to use the DPS-90 and did not want to
use Ada. So they asked for a waiver to use FORTRAN noting
the Ada compiler did not support the vector/matrix processor
which was absolutely, positively needed for the project.
I simply got on the machine, spent a couple of hours writing
an Ada binding to FORTRAN code and VOILA, the Ada system
now had access to the vector/matrix processor. So much
for their "justification."
I have always believed that Ada's most strategic features
are its representation clauses and interface pragmas which
allow me to "glue" together heterogenous development efforts,
architectures, and COTS tools. With Ada, I have much greater
flexibility when it comes to build or buy decisions since
I can support most anybody's formats and protocols, no matter
how obtuse they may be. I don't concern myself with the
feasibility of interfacing system or interconnecting
architectures since I already know Ada has the facilities
to do the job.
--
Samuel T. Harris, Principal Engineer
Raytheon Training Incorporated
"If you can make it, We can fake it!"
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1998-09-24 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 93+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1998-09-23 0:00 Fortran or Ada? Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96
1998-09-23 0:00 ` Gisle S{lensminde
1998-09-24 0:00 ` John McCabe
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Gisle S{lensminde
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Dean F. Sutherland
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Samuel T. Harris [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
1998-10-05 0:00 robin
1998-10-05 0:00 Condic, Marin D.
1998-10-05 0:00 Robert I. Eachus
1998-09-24 0:00 Walt Brainerd
1998-09-25 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-23 0:00 Marin David Condic, 561.796.8997, M/S 731-96
[not found] <36068E73.F0398C54@meca.polymtl.ca>
1998-09-22 0:00 ` Gisle S{lensminde
1998-09-22 0:00 ` Jeff Templon
1998-09-22 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-23 0:00 ` Jeff Templon
1998-09-23 0:00 ` Corey Minyard
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Joel Seidman
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Craig Burley
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-25 0:00 ` Jonathan Guthrie
1998-09-26 0:00 ` Craig Burley
1998-09-26 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-26 0:00 ` Robert B. Love
1998-09-26 0:00 ` Craig Burley
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Marc A. Criley
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Jeff Templon
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-25 0:00 ` Dale Stanbrough
1998-09-30 0:00 ` Daniel Barker
1998-09-30 0:00 ` Lawrence Kirby
1998-10-01 0:00 ` Aaron Crane
1998-10-05 0:00 ` Terry Devine
1998-09-24 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-09-24 0:00 ` William Clodius
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-25 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-09-25 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-25 0:00 ` jbs
1998-09-26 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-28 0:00 ` jbs
1998-09-29 0:00 ` Dean F. Sutherland
1998-09-29 0:00 ` William B. Clodius
1998-09-30 0:00 ` jbs
1998-09-30 0:00 ` William Clodius
1998-09-30 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-09-30 0:00 ` jbs
1998-09-30 0:00 ` William Clodius
1998-10-03 0:00 ` Niklas Holsti
1998-10-03 0:00 ` Toon Moene
1998-10-03 0:00 ` Niklas Holsti
1998-10-03 0:00 ` Toon Moene
1998-10-04 0:00 ` Niklas Holsti
1998-10-05 0:00 ` Michel OLAGNON
1998-10-05 0:00 ` Ian St. John
1998-10-05 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-05 0:00 ` Ian St. John
1998-10-06 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Toon Moene
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Jonathan Guthrie
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Ian St. John
1998-10-08 0:00 ` Gary L. Scott
1998-10-06 0:00 ` James Giles
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Mark A Biggar
1998-10-06 0:00 ` James Giles
1998-10-07 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-07 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-05 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
1998-10-05 0:00 ` dewarr
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Michel OLAGNON
1998-10-07 0:00 ` Ian St. John
1998-09-29 0:00 ` Gautier.DeMontmollin
1998-09-29 0:00 ` Dean F. Sutherland
1998-09-29 0:00 ` Dean F. Sutherland
1998-10-02 0:00 ` Geoff Bull
1998-10-02 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-02 0:00 ` jbs
1998-10-02 0:00 ` William Clodius
1998-10-03 0:00 ` jbs
1998-10-03 0:00 ` Larry Elmore
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-10-06 0:00 ` Pat Rogers
[not found] ` <6udre0$ha1$1@nnrp1.dejane <6utg60$h6l$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
1998-10-01 0:00 ` robin_v
1998-09-22 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1998-09-22 0:00 ` Corey Minyard
1998-09-22 0:00 ` Rakesh Malhotra
1998-09-23 0:00 ` Frank Ecke
1998-09-23 0:00 ` bglbv
1998-09-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1998-09-24 0:00 ` Richard D Riehle
replies disabled
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox