Re: An Ada advocacy method

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

I drove ObjectAda around a very long time ago, so I don't know what 
capabilities it may have today and what I did with it way back when was 
pretty limited. But I *can* say what things I thought were cool about 
MSVC++ and you can tell me if you think ObjectAda comes close:

1) A Library. The MFC largely covered weaknesses in C++ that Ada didn't 
have, so we can skip those capabilities, but it still provided data 
structures, hooks to the OS, and lots of other development goodies. 
(Please spare me any argument that even remotely sounds like "Well you 
can buy MSVC++ and then bind to all that stuff with Ada..." :-)

2) Documentation. Click on something and push the right button and 
you're at a detailed explanation of the thing in question, complete with 
examples of how to use it right. This is particularly importabnt once 
you have #1 above.

3) Debugging that is tightly integrated with the rest of the system. You 
just indicated you wanted to run in debug mode and when something broke 
(which often happens in C++) you were right there in the source code 
where the problem occurred. You could even make a patch to the code on 
the fly and continue with execution. That was a big time saver. Ada may 
need the debugger less, but if you're going to have one at all, it ought 
to be this nicely integrated.

4) Integrated GUI Builder. The GUI builder wasn't some sideline thing - 
it was part of the project you were developing and as you added or 
changed things in the GUI, it would (re)generate the interface code you 
needed. Hopping between something defined in the GUI and where it was 
dealt with in the code was also pretty direct.

5) Project Views - You see this in GPS too. You could look at the 
project as a series of files or you could look at it as a set of classes 
or you could look at it as a set of windows. There might be other ways 
to view a project - some of them specialized to a given domain - but 
this was a big help. (GPS filled that void nicely, but I'd still like to 
see more capabilities and better integration. I know... "Bitch! Bitch! 
Bitch!" :-)

There are probably other capabilities I've forgotten or that were nice, 
but not that big a deal. I think the above list is pretty good, though. 
I might add to my wish list - tight integration to a database (Database 
design and code generation built in) and near-invisible, well integrated 
configuration management/change control, but that might be getting too 
far off the immediate issue - that which MSVC++ has that I've not 
noticed in Ada environments.

MDC

Martin Dowie wrote:
> 
> ObjectAda is a MSVC++ clone. I rather like it. What sort of extra
> capabilities
> do you mean?
> 
> 


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Marin David Condic
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