From: Marin David Condic <condicma@bogon.pwfl.com>
Subject: Re: should I be interested in ada?
Date: 1999/02/15
Date: 1999-02-15T00:00:00+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <36C8413C.A5122F7A@pwfl.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 7a72e6$g55$1@probity.mcc.ac.uk
Phillip Helbig wrote:
> Is there any reason to use Ada as opposed to Fortran95 for my stuff
> (mainly number crunching, numerical analysis etc, some home-grown
> graphics software, relatively simple text processing etc; almost all
> code I use is my own)?
>
It's been quite a while since I've used Fortran and I'm not familiar
with the latest iteration of the language, so I couldn't provide you
with any sort of reasonable comparison. But what I can do is point out
that Ada95 has excellent numeric capabilities in its own right.
Ada gives you the ability to precisely specify the accuracy required for
numeric types and gets very explicit about he semantics of the numeric
operations. So if your calculations are sensitive to these issues, you
stand a pretty good chance of conducting analysis and getting what you
need from the compiler. There are also a number of numeric packages
(vectors, matrices, etc.) available in Ada for the cost of some net
surfing and a download. (A good place to start looking is:
www.adahome.com Most of us are willing to cough up our bookmarks if you
have something specific in mind.)
Ada also provides mechanisims for connecting to Fortran coded
subroutines so you can make use of whatever code you already have. The
GNAT compiler for Ada supports the interfaces to other languages and
there is a Fortran compiler (somewhere) based on the underlying gcc
compiler, so there should be no problem connecting up code if this is
what you base your environment on. (Sidebar: It would sure be nice to
see the variety of "front ends" for gcc combined in such a way that it
would be easy to have Ada, C, C++, Fortran and ??? all in the same
installation. I found the gcc-based Fortran compiler available
somewhere, but then did not attempt to install it for fear of messing up
my GNAT installation in some manner.)
Ada is a good general purpose language with a variety of add-on software
libraries available, so it would support just about any programming
requirements you might have. I can't say if you would be better off
switching to Ada95 - only you know what your precise needs are. But I
can say that there is no reason you would *not* be able to do numerical
programming if you chose Ada95 and there are many advantages to going
this route.
MDC
--
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.***
"Crime does not pay ... as well as politics."
-- A. E. Newman
next prev parent reply other threads:[~1999-02-15 0:00 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 89+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
1999-02-14 0:00 should I be interested in ada? Phillip Helbig
1999-02-15 0:00 ` Gautier
1999-02-15 0:00 ` Marin David Condic [this message]
1999-02-23 0:00 ` David Starner
1999-02-16 0:00 ` Ken Thomas
1999-02-17 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-18 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-18 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-18 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Phillip Helbig
1999-02-19 0:00 ` dennison
1999-02-19 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-19 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-20 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-22 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-20 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-20 0:00 ` Steve Doiel
1999-02-20 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-22 0:00 ` dennison
1999-02-22 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-02-24 0:00 ` White rabbit (was: should I be interested in ada?) dennison
1999-02-25 0:00 ` Alice books " JP Thornley
1999-02-25 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-02-18 0:00 ` should I be interested in ada? Jerry Petrey
1999-02-18 0:00 ` fraser
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Matthew Heaney
1999-02-20 0:00 ` fraser
1999-02-18 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-18 0:00 ` Joel Seidman
1999-02-18 0:00 ` Dan Nagle
1999-02-18 0:00 ` nabbasi
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-20 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-21 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-21 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-22 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-21 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Dan Nagle
1999-02-19 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Dan Nagle
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Peter Hermann
1999-02-18 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-18 0:00 ` nabbasi
1999-02-18 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-18 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-19 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-19 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-20 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-22 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-22 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-23 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-22 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-23 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-25 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-25 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-23 0:00 ` Robert I. Eachus
1999-02-24 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-26 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-02-27 0:00 ` Semantic info pragmas (was: should I be interested in ada?) Nick Roberts
1999-03-01 0:00 ` Samuel Tardieu
1999-03-01 0:00 ` Robert A Duff
1999-02-24 0:00 ` should I be interested in ada? William Clodius
1999-02-24 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-25 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-25 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-26 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-18 0:00 ` robert_dewar
1999-02-18 0:00 ` Nick Roberts
1999-02-18 0:00 ` William Clodius
1999-02-18 0:00 ` dennison
1999-02-20 0:00 ` Hartmut H. Schaefer
1999-02-20 0:00 ` bill
1999-02-21 0:00 ` dewar
1999-02-21 0:00 ` dewar
1999-02-22 0:00 ` dennison
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