Re: :-) A Brand-New Language! :-)

["Marc A. Criley" <marc.a.criley@lmco.com>]

From time to time I have idly thought about recasting the Ada syntax
into a C++/Java style.  The name for the language could be "Babbage",
or maybe "Babs" to convey that tanned, wired-in, mobile hacker on the
beach persona.  Anyhow.

A program written in Babbage would go through a front-end to do the
hopefully minimal syntax rearrangement, feed it into an Ada 95
back end, trap and "translate" any warning or error messages, and
generate object code when appropriate.

I'd start a company to proselytize this new high-security object
oriented language that includes built-in templates, exceptions,
concurrency, and type safety.  Then float an IPO, sit back, and
watch it take the world by storm.

I mean, hey, look at what you can start with as an initial mapping:

package     => package (thanks Java!)
tagged      => class (inheritable)
record      => struct (non-inheritable)
task        => thread
begin/end   => {/}
type        => typedef
exception/  => exception/
  when ...  =>   catch ...
private     => protected

procedure   => void proc-name(...)
function    => return-type func-name(...)

etc.

The nice thing is that you don't have to find an exact match in
existing C++/Java syntax, you can make something up if you really
need to, thereby ensuring it'll cleanly map back.

Well, it's a daydream anyway...   :-)

Marc A. Criley



David Botton wrote:
> 
> It worked for Delphi (aka Pascal) and pro/sql for Oracle (Ada SQL script).
> 
> DB
> 
> Richard D Riehle wrote in message <8c64ni$9m3$1@slb6.atl.mindspring.net>...
> >I recall a meeting during the days of Ada 9X when someone suggested we
> >adopt an entirely different appelation, "The Tucker," for the revised
> >Ada standard.