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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,c1983ae2deb642ab X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-06-09 11:04:05 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!newshub.sdsu.edu!west.cox.net!cox.net!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsfeed0.news.atl.earthlink.net!news.atl.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Richard Riehle Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada -vs- GNAT Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2002 11:06:30 -0700 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3D039926.BF697C7A@adaworks.com> References: <5ee5b646.0206080414.67b7ab3b@posting.google.com> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 41.b2.41.a3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 9 Jun 2002 18:03:55 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:25609 Date: 2002-06-09T18:03:55+00:00 List-Id: Robert Dewar wrote: > What people differ on is the definition of essential. We are in the business > of meeting our customers needs. If there is a customer who needs a new feature, > and if the feature makes sense, and if it is generally useful, then we see it > as essential :-) A long time ago, in a far away place called Data Processing Land, we had languages such as COBOL, and compiler publishers addressed specific user and platform needs by adding new reserved words and other features to the language. ACT appears to be taking a more responsible approach by 1) not adding new features to the language, 2) tailoring their compiler through the use of pragmas and attributes as authorized by the ALRM, and 3) making it possible to avoid these additions by configuration pragmas. This seems pretty reasonable to me, and I am, as you all know, a pretty unreasonable person. Richard Riehle