Re: Ada to C++ Translator

[Tucker Taft <stt@averstar.com>]

Brad Crabtree wrote:
> 
> This request is probably in poor taste for this discussion group, but
> here goes ...
> 
> I am looking options in converting Ada to C/C++ beyond the GNAT
> translator.  Commerical products OK.

We have two (related) technologies that might be relevant:

1) We have a validated Ada 95 compiler that uses C as its
intermediate language.  With this, you keep writing and maintaining
your program at the Ada level, but use the C compiler to get the
code onto your target.  The C we generate is quite portable, and
is generally debuggable using a C debugger.  It is also easily
interfacable with other parts of the system written in C.

2) We have adapted the above product to produce C (or C with a bit
of C++) in a more human readable format, with Ada comments carried
over to the generated C/C++, names as close as possible to the original
Ada, etc.  This technology is currently only available as a service,
where we charge on a per-line basis to translate Ada to C/C++.
The expectation here is that this is a one-time process, with future
maintenance performed on the C/C++ code rather than the Ada code.

Both technologies are in use in production environments, but neither
is "shrink wrapped."  We (or you) need to do some tailoring for
the particular target machine, host machine, and C compiler of interest.
Let us know if you would like to pursue use of either technology.

> 
> Thanks for any info in advance.
> 
> Please no lectures on why this can't or shouldn't be done, or Ada or C++
> 
> bashing unless you just can't help youself.  The tool will only be used
> as an intermediate step and
> not used on sections of code we will be re-architecting to make use of
> C++ functionality   :-)
> --
> Bradley D. Crabtree, Software Design Engineer
> b-crabtree@raytheon.com

-- 
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA