Re: IBM Acquires Rational Ada

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca>]

Richard Riehle wrote:
> "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:
> 
>>But consider the challenges of a Windows programmer that wants to write his
>>application in Ada:
>>
>>  - A user interface beyond tty (console) mode is required (text or GUI)
>>  - Database access is required (very few serious applications can do
>>    without this).
>>  - O/S interfaces (e.g. printing and registry)
>>  - Network APIs
> 
> Some of this list is easily dealt with.   I believe a serious Windows
> developer would use CLAW for the GUI.    However, the database
> issue is more serious.

Someone else mentioned CLAW as well earlier. But this doesn't help
the many *BSD/Linux/UNIX application developers.

> We once had AdaSage for good database support, but that has vanished
> from the landscape.   There was a company in Santa Clara, CA that
> once developed a full relational database in Ada for Ada, but that has
> also vanished.   Oracle seems to have de-escalated support for Ada,
> and I'm not sure of the status of other database bindings that once
> existed.

AFAIK, Oracle no longer supports the Ada embedded SQL product. If you're
lucky, it might be available still.

> We lost the opportunity when we had it.   So much focus on embedded
> systems and little on database systems.   Well, the compiler companies
> had no interest in commercial sales of Ada (or the compilers would
> have been priced more reasonably).  As long as the DoD was a captive
> customer, there was no incentive for competitive product pricing.

Perhaps I don't understand the military mindset well, but I would have
thought that the DoD would have had their own needs for databases
and a preference for Ada. Or did they not consider these to be as
mission critical?

> What can we do to fix this?   How can we take a superior language
> technology, one for which compilers are now in the affordable
> range, and make available the necessary tools, at reasonable
> prices, to make it a more attractive alternative?
> 
> Richard Riehle

I am pleased to see that GNAT is being integrated into GCC. With
time, as many hope, it will become a standard feature of Linux
distros for example. As more apps get written in Ada, more people
who compile from source will want to make sure that they have
the packages installed to compile them with.

But here's a thought:

If someone could help out the Red Hat's/SuSe's etc. to package
all of those "other" Ada packages like FLORIST, Booch Components
etc. into pre-installed Linux packages, then things might become
a bit easier for some developers at least.

For Windows, someone could provide a 2ndary install for all of
those other useful Ada packages so that after installing GNAT,
one more simple install puts all of the other libraries and
packages into place.

In other words, we need some Ada package distros to do the
same thing that Linux distros do. Make it easier to install and
maintain all of those optional Ada packages that do exist.

Any volunteers? ;-)

-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg