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,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,54889de51045a215 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-22 13:05:44 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-out1.nntp.be!propagator2-sterling!news-in-sterling.nuthinbutnews.com!cyclone1.gnilink.net!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!attbi_s52.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F96E2C6.6010708@comcast.net> From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Early Ada Mistakes (was: Re: += in ada) References: <1066224357.499523@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1066231159.711433@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1066311805.222491@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <3F8F3077.60402@comcast.net> <3F900F35.50203@comcast.net> <3F952A59.5090001@noplace.com> <3F96788C.5020309@noplace.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.139.183 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: attbi_s52 1066853143 24.34.139.183 (Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:05:43 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:05:43 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 20:05:43 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:1466 Date: 2003-10-22T20:05:43+00:00 List-Id: Marin David Condic wrote: > I thought it would be A Good Thing(tm) had there been some kind of > semi-official subset that could have been validated so that a compiler > might have been "Level 1 Compliant". That may have let compiler writers > come out with something that would have met the needs of us guys with > really small target processors and/or inexpensive home computers. We > would have been able to play the game and do so in a way that was > "Portable". As technology improved, vendors might have more easily > become "Level 2 Compliant" and customers could have upgraded as their > hardware grew to meet the needs. There were actually two, pretty well understood by all compiler developers. The first was the Pascal subset, this was basically everything in Ada that was also in Pascal. A lot of compiler developers either modified a Pascal compiler to compile this subset, or built a tool to convert from the Pascal subset of Ada into Pascal. The next step up was the Pascal superset. This was basically everything in Ada except chapters 9 (Tasking), 12 (Generics) and most of 13. This was the language that most compiler developers used--and possibly still do--to implement the Ada run-time. Of course, a lot of people would say that some compilers, such as the original Telesoft compiler were only useable with the Pascal superset. I am not one of them. I never found the original Telesoft compiler useable. But then again, maybe I never found the right Pascal subset to use with it. -- Robert I. Eachus "Quality is the Buddha. Quality is scientific reality. Quality is the goal of Art. It remains to work these concepts into a practical, down-to-earth context, and for this there is nothing more practical or down-to-earth than what I have been talking about all along...the repair of an old motorcycle." -- from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig