From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5f8432149982f35e X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: fca1b,5f8432149982f35e X-Google-Attributes: gidfca1b,public From: Marin David Condic Subject: Re: Ada and QNX Date: 2000/10/16 Message-ID: <39EB1BA2.B5F2BFDF@acm.org>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 682088106 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <8r1i82$ri3$1@kujawiak.man.lodz.pl> <8r5pe5$h70$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <8FCDFD7EEnopenopena@63.209.170.206> <39EA6305.CD5CFE1F@ix.netcom.com> <39EA9161.6469DDE2@home.com> X-Accept-Language: en X-Server-Date: 16 Oct 2000 15:16:07 GMT Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Organization: Quadrus Corporation Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.os.qnx Date: 2000-10-16T15:16:07+00:00 List-Id: Igor Kovalenko wrote: > Oh, yeah. I bought Ada book some years ago. So many capabilities. Couple > hundred pages worth of docs printed in small-font. If someone manages to > a) write a good compiler for that (portable and with runtime-efficient > code) and b) somehow teach programmers to understand the whole damn > thing, then yes it might resurrect. Even then, I have doubts personally. A) There *are* good quality compilers for Ada for lots of platforms. B) Nobody needs to know "the whole damn thing" in order to do useful work with it. (I doubt anybody knows *all* of C, Cobol, Java, Lisp, etc. since you seldom need *all* of a language to get a job done.) > > Ada is way too high and abstract to be good for system level programming > (even C++ is too high). And yet it is not as portable and distributable I've heard this old saw so often I just want to cry. Would you accept as "system level programming" a jet engine control system functioning in a hard-realtime setting where there is *no* OS except for that which you write yourself? As in "I'm programming down at the bare metal, building my own interrupt handlers, low-level device I/O, etc."? Chances are, you've flown in a jet with such an engine control. Yes, it's really been done a number of times. There are a lot more examples, but these I can testify to in court since I developed them. Can we *please* never again hear that "Ada is no good for systems programming"? > > as Java to be good for new-age applications. Plus, it smells too much > like Pascal and that turns me down immediately. Of course, those are > just my humble personal opinions, I know that others will disagree and I > don't say that those opinions are absolute right. > You're never wrong about what you "like" or "prefer". You don't have to like Ada. I don't have to like C. However, I'll concede that C has its place in the world an often has either technical or business merits that make it the right choice for some applications. I would like people to look at Ada in a serious technical way with an eye toward trying to recognize its strengths & an honest effort to look for where it would be useful. All too often, people begin their inspection of Ada with an attitude of: "I *hate* Ada. Now let me learn enough about it to find or invent reasons why hating Ada is the right answer." This is a very human action. We all do it from time to time. But like many human actions, it is not terribly useful or constructive. > > In any case I don't think that pissing into C++ pool will do any good > for Ada. At best it might just serve you as a good way to kill time > until a) and b) is done. > A and B are done. See http://www.Adapower.com/ for sources for good quality compilers and a bibliography of good books for learning Ada. (Either *all* of it or just the parts you need to do your job.) I personally like Bard Crawford's book (see: www.LearnAda.com.) as a "quick" introduction to the language for those who need to get familiar with the basic features of the language without becoming a language lawyer. See also: http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/ada95books.html#1 for more books about Ada. MDC -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ q u a d r u s c o r p . c o m Visit my web site at: http://www.mcondic.com/ "Giving money and power to Government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." -- P. J. O'Rourke ======================================================================