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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,9ab76c2183ecc054 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-01-02 14:56:42 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!news.tele.dk!194.213.69.151!news.algonet.se!algonet!newsfeed01.se.dataphone.net!nntp.se.dataphone.net!148.122.208.68.MISMATCH!news2.oke.nextra.no!nextra.com!news1.oke.nextra.no.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3A525C16.5C444ADD@online.no> From: "Tarjei Tj�stheim Jensen" Organization: Jensen programvareutvikling X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (OS/2; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada to C Translator References: <92fk1v0cou@drn.newsguy.com> <92fqlt$h8d$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A4CF58B.A8FF223C@collins.rockwell.com> <92qfj7$7l9$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A5218FB.41FDD@collins.rockwell.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 23:54:14 +0100 NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.67.226.224 X-Complaints-To: news-abuse@nextra.no X-Trace: news1.oke.nextra.no 978476187 130.67.226.224 (Tue, 02 Jan 2001 23:56:27 MET) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 23:56:27 MET Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:3588 Date: 2001-01-02T23:54:14+01:00 List-Id: Dave Ptacek wrote: >I do believe Microsoft will always provide some > "upgrade" path from NT 4.0 to 2000 to etc. as there are just too many > Microsoft apps that need will need to be "upgraded" as well. Jumping on > that bandwagon appears to have some merit. It all depends. NT is an unreliable platform as far as being a server is concerned. The worst case scenario is having to re-install windows NT. And I'm not talking about a hardware crash. The "must have all servers on NT" wave has passed. Not completely, but now it is acceptable to have something else. My favourites for something which is placed at another site would be either a VMS, Irix 6.5 or one of the BSD varieties. VMS because few know it and it would be a real challenge to break into. An industrial strength OS on cheap hardware. Irix because it has good tools for patching and upgrades. It also has the best volume manager I have seen to date. The various BSDs has been easier to install than any of the Linuxes I have tried on the PCs I have available. The best Linux to place outside ones own control would probably be Debian. It seems to be the only one with a really good upgrade tool. That upgrade tool seems to be better than the ones that come with the BSD versions. > I would be interested in some suggestions as to what languages and > toolsets would be viable alternatives for maintaining a program 15 - 20 > years into the future. Please try to take the Ada hat off before you > respond, it still might be your choice, attempt to rationalize it with > reasonable statements, consider the logistical situation noted above and > lastly this is not a "deep pocket" program so funds are limited. > As far as technical computing is concerned, Ada and/or plain C would be my choice. Ada has by far the best process for updating the language. I might not agree that all choices are the best, but it is a really strong language which fosters the right attitude for long term software development. And it has the right customers which understands that they are in for more than a short ride. To me C/C++/Java/C# seems slightly risky as the language seems to disintegrate into a number of dialects. Once they have started that, who knows where it ends. Only C seems to have an eye to previous art. The rest of the languages seems to be evolving and that means that anybody who hitches a ride might get stranded in an inconvenient place. Getting along with the rest might become expensive (read: you have to rewrite code). With regard to compiler availability: The same consolidation which have occured with Ada is also occuring with C and C++. It is no accident that Borland have made their C/C++ compiler available for free (you pay for the development environment). In the windows environment, I would not be surprised if there were more Ada compiler vendors selling compilers than there are C++ vendors selling C/C++ compilers. I think we for all intents and purposes have one left; microsoft. That single vendor dependency would be a compelling reason to use an other programming language. Have you read the COTS Journal article on Ada? If you have, re-read table 1. If not search for it in this newsgroup and visit! Greetings,