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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,cec04f9d45b3f527 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-08-31 08:59:48 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F521B65.1090004@noplace.com> From: Marin David Condic User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: An Ada advocacy method References: <3F4F4817.7030306@noplace.com> <3F50130A.1070406@noplace.com> <3F50A70E.7050809@noplace.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 15:59:47 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.4.116 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net 1062345587 209.165.4.116 (Sun, 31 Aug 2003 11:59:47 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2003 11:59:47 EDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:42009 Date: 2003-08-31T15:59:47+00:00 List-Id: 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? > > -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jast.mil/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "In general the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other." -- Voltaire ======================================================================