Re: ada paper critic

[David Marceau <davidmarceau@sympatico.ca>]

Dale Stanbrough wrote:
> 
> Ted Dennison wrote:
> 
> > But if you want real numbers that mean something, get the compilers you
> > would use if you were to pick that language, and compare their output
> > for the types of code you will be generating. Speed has way more to do
> > with the effort your compiler writers put into optimization than with
> > the language.
> 
> async abort is one counter example of this. The definition is such
> that programs take a hit in efficiency (or so i have read in this
> newsgroup).
> 
> Just thinking about it, don't Ada's "non constructor" construcor
> functions require you to build  items on the heap, then copy them
> into the variable, rather than bulding them inplace?
> 
> ...and doesn't the fact that the only way to attach information
> to an exception is via a string, requiring conversions  to/from
> the appropriate format just to find out what -really- went wrong?
> 
> ...and doesn't the representation of holey enumerated types cause
> a lot of run time processing?
I don't remember seeing anything in the ada95 rationale or the reference
manual mentioning 
"minimize run-time processing" as part of the ada language design
intent.
IMHO I believe this is a feature since the ada run-time 
deliberately sacrifices optimum execution speed 
in order to achieve higher-levels of reliability 
via many invisible implicit checks on stuff 
every time you call a different service.
I grant java does some similar checks here but with the JIT tweaking
code, certainty in execution behaviour is reduced.
I grant the java exception handling similar to ada 
however the java threading/runnable and concurrency infrastructure are
an after-thought 
because they are not part of the java language itself.
In other words one of the best kept secrets on the planet is that ada
run-time and exception handling 
is much richer than java in terms of depth and breadth when dealing with
tasking and concurrency.
As an example read in the ada rationale documentation what it has to say
about tasks and you will see what I mean.  Lots of stuff here.  It shows
much depth and breadth in terms of expertise went into the
documentation.  Warns the user of issues that may need to be dealt with
in certain specified situations.
Then read the java thread/runnable docs and you will find it much
simpler and a joy to read.  Just follow the recipe and everything will
be fine :)
Which one describes the more realistic scenario when concurrency is
involved?  IMHO ada.

> 
> I could go on, but i can't think of any others (at the moment!) :-)
> 
> Dale
That's interesting IMHO these all ADA FEATURES and not ada bugs :)