Re: Ada to C++ translator?

[Bob Jacobs <robert.jacobs@baesystems.com>]

Martin Dowie wrote:
> 
> I suspect for the mainstream of Windows C++ suites (e.g. Visual C++,
> Borland), the guide is dated and you could probably delete large chunks
> of this guide but only if you knew that was your entire porting range. But
> mozilla's porting range is huge and a lot of the rules seem to apply
> because of HP and SCO compilers - which I had expected to be fairly
> common targets...


A weakness of the guide is that in most cases it doesn't provide the
version of the compilers which are mentioned. Since it was first
published there has been a great deal of activity on the part of
compiler writers to implement the standard. This doesn't seem to have
been reflected in the guide.

An example of it being dated is the HP compiler, to which you also
refer. This is identified in 9 of the 33 items; some of these refer to
it being a Cfront compiler, which it says is still shipping. According
to the HP site at:

  http://www.devresource.hp.com/devresource/Tools/cpp/faq.html

the Cfront C++ compiler stopped shipping in August 1999.

One of the few compilers mentioned by version is Visual C++ 1.5 but I
believe this is the old 16-bit compiler which stopped shipping probably
around 4 or 5 years ago now. Fine if you still want to support Windows
3.X.

It may be that Mozilla is still supporting obscure platforms using old
compilers, and all credit to them if they are. On the other hand, it
could just be that the guide is out of date and needs revising.

Bob Jacobs