Re: AdaGames

[Darren New <dnew@san.rr.com>]

Marin David Condic wrote:
> I don't know of any other
> languages that have tasking built in as direct syntactic features of the
> language. 

Err, as I said, Tcl and Java spring to mind, for example. Probably
Python too. Eiffel, if it ever actually got implemented that way.
Hermes. NIL. 

I'm not sure what you mean by "direct syntactic features". I'd count
pretty much anything that's a defined part of the language, regardless
of whether it happens to use the same syntax as other parts of the
language. If I can count on the language providing threads even when the
underlying OS doesn't, I'd call that part of the language, wouldn't you?
Java certainly has reserved words for managing synchronization, and
Tcl's syntax is such that you don't really distinguish stuff based on
syntax (e.g., "if" is as much a procedure as "create_thread" is).

> active objects that may be supplied with C++ or Java, my understanding from
> other people is that you still need to do some work to control the
> communication & synchronization between the tasks.

The same as you do in Ada. In Tcl, it's even easier. As it is in Hermes.
(As an example, Hermes doesn't even *have* procedure calls. *All* it has
is task entries.)

Java has "synchronized" classes, which are pretty much exactly like
protected objects.

Tcl has an event model (in addition to threads) that let you write
things like servers that would normally be multithreaded without needing
threads. I've written a multiplayer network game hosted by a server with
a client doing its own animation and sound effects, and it was
straightforward without needing any threads.
 
> In general, I think it would be easier to do a multi-tasking application in
> Ada than in most other languages. 

Agreed. Ada's tasking is nice. It's just not anything particularly
special, until you get into the real-time stuff.

> Now the "standard GUI" part is another story. AFAIK, C++ doesn't have a
> "standard" GUI, but Java sort of does by virtue of its class libraries.

As does Tcl. Good enough to be ported to a multitude of other languages.

-- 
Darren New 
San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand.
      Remember, drive defensively if you drink.