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From: Gary Scott <Gary.L.Scott@lmtas.lmco.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: How to make Ada a dominant language
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 17:58:40 -0500
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Date: 2001-07-30T17:58:40-05:00
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Note that most of the below changes would also make Ada look like
Fortran 95...

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.
> 
> Here are the syntax changes I propose:
> 
> 1. Eliminate the "end" keyword and make the indentation structure an
> inherent part of the syntax, as in Python.
> 
> 2. Eliminate the requirement for a semicolon after each executable
> statement, but allow semicolons for combining multiple statements on a
> line, as in Python.
> 
> 3. Use "=" rather than ":=" for assignment, as in Python. (Use "=="
> for equality testing if necessary to avoid confusion with assignment.)
> 
> 4. Use "=" instead of "=>" for passing arguments by named association,
> as in Python.
> 
> 5. Reverse the backward declaration syntax. For example, use "integer:
> count" instead of "count: integer", or use "integer in: count" instead
> of "count: in integer".
> 
> 6. Eliminate the "is" keyword.
> 
> 7. Let "use" imply "with" so the tops of files need not be cluttered
> with both "with" and "use" for the same package.
> 
> A flag on the first line of a source file (e.g., the string "Ada01"
> anywhere within a comment) could be used to tell the compiler that the
> file needs to be translated to Ada95 before compiling.
> 
> With these changes, I believe Ada would become much more popular and
> could eventually become a dominant language. The resulting new
> language could be called "Ada01," or something like that.
> 
> Honestly now, which of the following two statements is cleaner and
> clearer?
> 
>     count: integer := 0;  -- old syntax
> 
>     integer: count = 0  -- new syntax
> 
> Russ Paielli
> http://RussP.org