PDA Ada

[Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com>]

In a conversation with a colleague yesterday,  the topic
of PDA's came up, yet again.   We have a lot of projects
funded for using wireless technology and PDA's such as
the Palm and IpaQ.   He would be willing to let peole
use Ada if there were compilers available.

Does anyone know if there is any on-going effort to
create an Ada compiler for PDA's.   We are going to
miss a huge market opportunity if we fail to be ready
for this burgeoning part of the embedded marketplace.

At present, no one in the PDA community takes Ada
seriously because there are no compilers.  I fear no
one in the compiler publishing community takes
PDA's seriously because there are no customers.

The Ada compiler publishers have always, with a
few exceptions now and then, operated on a risk
averse model with regard to products.   I suppose
that is what we can expect again.  Unless there is
customer demand, there will be no compiler. Meanwhile,
there are no customers demanding Ada for PDA's because
they have other alternatives.

Richard Riehle