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From: Gerhard =?ISO-8859-1?Q?H=E4ring?= <gerhard.nospam@bigfoot.de>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: How to make Ada a dominant language
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 17:36:04 +0200
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Date: 2001-07-30T17:36:04+02:00
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Russ wrote:

> The Ada programming language is based on an excellent fundamental
> design, but it is much less popular than it could be because it has an
> awkward, "klunky" syntax. I propose to clean up the syntax by
> borrowing from Python. Python is very popular high level "scripting"
> language with a reputation for promoting clean, clear code. The new
> syntax could be translated into Ada95 syntax with a relatively simple
> "preprocessor," so existing compilers could still be used, old code
> would continue to work, and programmers could continue to use the old
> syntax if they wish.


The problem with "simple preprocessors" is that you don't get good error 
messages any more.

> Here are the syntax changes I propose:

[snip]

I like both Python and Ada. I use Ada syntax in Ada and Python syntax in 
Python. There are already preprocessors for Perl and C++ that translate 
from a Python-like syntax to Perl/C++ (search freshmeat).

The syntax of a programming language is something relatively 
superficial. I don't think that Ada's little popularity is causes by its 
syntax. I used to be a great Modula-2 fan and was immediatly familiar 
with Ada.

-- Gerhard