From: Marin David Condic <condicma@bogon.pwfl.com>
Subject: Re: Elaborate compile-time error messages (was: GNAT Stream Read ...)
Date: 1999/01/06
Date: 1999-01-06T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <369366F1.67C06BF0@pwfl.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 1999Jan6.072356.1@eisner
Larry Kilgallen wrote:
>
>
> That certainly is a high quality error message. I am curious as to
> why it is not the default. Is there some set of programmers who get
> really mad at having the compiler be smarter than they are about the
> nature of a problem.
Just a guess, but have you noticed how one error early on in a
compilation can have the bad effect of cascading down, generating
hundreds of other messages? If the error messages are in full detail,
this gets crowded quickly and might make it harder to find the original
problem.
>
> I first used Ada with DEC Ada, where the error messages are also
> quite complete, and it has never occurred to me to look for a way
> to make them shorter.
>
I've always had a good deal of respect for the quality of the DEC
compilers. (any language) They generate decent code, are well documented
with lots of detail down to the bits&bytes level and generally provide
good diagnostics. DEC seems to be out of the Ada compiler business, but
I think other vendors could look at what they did and learn a lot from
it. They may not have provided some spiffy graphic development
environment, but they always gave me what mattered most: simple,
reliable operation, quality code generation and really good
documentation so I knew how to get the compiler to do what I wanted it
to do.
--
Marin David Condic
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
Ph: 561.796.8997 Fx: 561.796.4669
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***
"Eagles may soar, but a weasle never gets sucked up into a jet engine."
-- Author Unknown
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-01-06 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 14+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1999-01-05 0:00 GNAT Stream Read processing problem Bruce Detter
1999-01-05 0:00 ` Tom Moran
1999-01-05 0:00 ` Bruce Detter
1999-01-06 0:00 ` dewar
1999-01-06 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-01-06 0:00 ` Bruce Detter
1999-01-06 0:00 ` Elaborate compile-time error messages (was: GNAT Stream Read ...) Larry Kilgallen
1999-01-06 0:00 ` Marin David Condic [this message]
1999-01-11 0:00 ` Georg Bauhaus
1999-01-13 0:00 ` Simon Wright
1999-01-06 0:00 ` bourguet
1999-01-07 0:00 ` dewar
1999-01-07 0:00 ` Larry Kilgallen
1999-01-10 0:00 ` robert_dewar
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