Where to buy compiler

Where to buy compiler

[Mothers Lock Up Your Sons]

Thanks for all your suggestions it looks like what I want is the Merdian
compiler.  (anyone with lots of info on it feel free to send me it)
THe question is where can I buy this compiler?  I checked half the 
computer stores in California and no one has it.  Thanks in advance
Jo

Re: Where to buy compiler

[David Weller]

In article <3c27rn$mf4@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
Mothers Lock Up Your Sons <alabasca@fajita.engr.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>Thanks for all your suggestions it looks like what I want is the Merdian
>compiler.  (anyone with lots of info on it feel free to send me it)
>THe question is where can I buy this compiler?  I checked half the 
>computer stores in California and no one has it.  Thanks in advance
>Jo
>

Getting shelf space for an Ada compiler is next to impossible.  Hell,
even finding Smalltalk on the shelf is difficult.  Alas, there's even
worse news.  I've heard from the grapevine that Meridian (who was
bought by Verdix, who was then bought by Rational, which means
Meridian is part of Rational SOftware Corp now) was going to stop
marketing/supporting OpenAda, the low-cost PC compiler.  There may be
some very good reasons for this, but I've yet to see an announcement
(or even a denial).  In any case, the chance of a "low cost" compiler
for the PCs does't look very promising (All you vendors: Don't follow
up to this post and say "We think $999 is low cost for a PC" :-).
You might find something from RR Software for a decent cost.  The
presence of the GNAT compiler is generally countermotivating for the
current vendors.

In any case, my strongest suggestion is to call Delphi, get an
account for a month (that'll set you back $10), and ftp the GNAT
compiler.

-- 
Proud (and vocal) member of Team Ada! (and Team OS/2)        ||This is not your
   	      Ada -- Very Cool.  Doesn't Suck.               ||  father's Ada 
For all sorts of interesting Ada tidbits, run the command:   ||________________
"finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.)
	|"Quitting C++ isn't so difficult, provided you show as much |
	|	persistence stopping as you did starting." dweller   |

Re: Where to buy compiler

[WLawton]

In article <3c54q9$5mb@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>, dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM
(David Weller) writes:

In article <3c27rn$mf4@mark.ucdavis.edu>,
Mothers Lock Up Your Sons <alabasca@fajita.engr.ucdavis.edu> wrote:
>Thanks for all your suggestions it looks like what I want is the Merdian
>compiler.  (anyone with lots of info on it feel free to send me it)
>THe question is where can I buy this compiler?  I checked half the 
>computer stores in California and no one has it.  Thanks in advance
>Jo
>

I deal with Meridian/Rational on a weekly if not daily basis.  The person
who sold me my first copy of Meridian is now selling products for
Rational.  That person stated "The Meridian product line is considered a
mature technology.  We are still distributing the products, but do not
anticipate any future upgrades.  Instead we would like to sell you a copy
of the Rational Apex environment for $...".

Meridian, now Rational, can be reached at 1-800-653-2522.  
Mail Address is:
205 Van Buren Street
Herndon, VA 22070

Hope this helps

Wayne R. Lawton

Re: Where to buy compiler

[smm]

David Weller (dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM) wrote:

: Getting shelf space for an Ada compiler is next to impossible.  Hell,
: even finding Smalltalk on the shelf is difficult.  Alas, there's even

: (or even a denial).  In any case, the chance of a "low cost" compiler
: for the PCs does't look very promising (All you vendors: Don't follow
: up to this post and say "We think $999 is low cost for a PC" :-).

That's bad news. I'm glad you mentioned Smalltalk. There's a "non-C"
language where at least one vendor _DOESN'T_ _HAVE_ _A_ _UNIX_
_PRODUCT_ (Digitalk) and they've been in business and heavily hacking
and improving their product for quite some time. I could be mistaken,
but I don't think IBM's new Smalltalk supports Unix either (yes, NEW)
but at least all their advertising talks about Windows.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  Folks peddle brain damaged
ports of language Z to the PC that typically (1) cost way too 
much and (2) require oodles of RAM, often to compile, much less
write a program, (3) charge license fees for distributing
programs or (4) are small and crippled for "educational use". And
the peddling isn't very good. No add's in popular trade rags, PR
targeted at reviewers, columnists, etc.

Meanwhile a $89 C++ compiler supports Windows, has a giant
class library devoted to making Windows simple, has a visual
programming environment, has a GUI builder, has a slick 
debugger, AND (for techies) has what many call is the slickest
templates implementation on the market.

And the "non-C" language community has the balls to boo hoo hoo
over why their language is "obscure".  Well no shit. WAKE UP.
The mainframe is dying. The mini is dying. Monolithic frame
works are coming and "portability" is going or will be achieved
only at _enourmous_ cost (like Taligent's efforts).  The language
becomes increasingly a vehicle to access pre-canned services
(DBMS's, mail API's, etc.) It's all "bindings" and it will be
a scramble just to _KEEP UP_ with the API explosion on the
popular platforms.  OpenGL comes to Windows and you know where
the slickest supporting tools/OOP Wrappers/etc. will be in
a years time. You've got teams devoted to this stuff at MS,
Borland, IBM. (Borland does this kind of work for Pascal, a
"non-C" language).

I happen to be a BIG NON-C LANGUAGE ADVOCATE. But with this
sort of vendor behavior, we might as well GIVE UP. Where the
hell is the "OLE-2 Component Design Kit" based on Eiffel,
ADA, Common Lisp, Scheme, ML, Sather, Modula-3.  This is
the _SWEET SPOT_ of the market place. This is the stuff
a bunch of ex-accountants will learn so that they can go
train MIS shops. This is the stuff that makes it to Crown
Books book shops.  This is the stuff that crosses the desk
of managers in their trade rags.

Meanwhile, a bunch of us nerds pat ourselves on the back
because the nifty language Z now compiles on the Alpha
CPU, not just the Sun (but not Solaris). The debugger
will be done in 6 months.  The MIPS port lost funding. Ha
ha ha.

You want to stroke desk officers? You want to run on 1K little
chips? You want to teach how to write a better "hello, world" 
to college freshman? You want to play around with better 
register allocators?  You want to make sure the nuclear
reactor doesn't blow up? Ok. Then use ADA, Forth, Scheme,
Modual3 or Eiffel.  This is what the market is telling us.

You want to make a company that sells an E-Mail package to
pre-teens with Internet accounts? You want to do contract
programming for the giant market of Windows users? You 
want to write a DLL that ferrets the database connection
handle out of the client runtime system because the debug
messages are faulty (a real recent problem, but typical of
C/Pascal hacking in MIS shops) -- then you use C/C++/Pascal
-- That's what the market is telling us.

IT'S TOO BAD BECAUSE FOR MOST TASKS C/C++/PASCAL SUCKS! 

This just DRIVES ME CRAZY!  The vendors need a big kick
in the ass and a giant dose of Wall Street and a giant
dose of Main Street.

Re: Where to buy compiler

[Michael M. Bishop]

In article <3cm1d9$q2u@news1.delphi.com>, smm <smm@bix.com> wrote:
[snip]
>I happen to be a BIG NON-C LANGUAGE ADVOCATE. But with this
>sort of vendor behavior, we might as well GIVE UP. Where the
>hell is the "OLE-2 Component Design Kit" based on Eiffel,
>ADA, Common Lisp, Scheme, ML, Sather, Modula-3.  This is
>the _SWEET SPOT_ of the market place. This is the stuff
>a bunch of ex-accountants will learn so that they can go
>train MIS shops. This is the stuff that makes it to Crown
>Books book shops.  This is the stuff that crosses the desk
>of managers in their trade rags.
[snip]

Don Reifer gave a talk in Houston this past June and he mentioned that
Ada 95 bindings to OLE-2 and Windows 95 were in the works. He also
mentioned an emphasis on the part of DISA to encourage vendors to
develop relatively inexpensive Ada 95 for Windows compilers. I have no
idea how he plans to pull off that last goal as development of
Windows-based Ada compilers will only be done on a market-mandated basis
and is out of the DoD's arena. I find myself becoming increasingly
skeptical about the possibility of inexpensive Ada 95/Windows compilers
hitting the shelves any time in the near future, especially after
hearing that Meridian's OpenAda is no longer being supported. (I haven't
been reading this newsgroup as often as I used to, so I'm not sure if I
heard right and if so, exactly what happened.) OpenAda seemed to be the
closest thing we had to an affordable Ada 95/Windows compiler.
-- 
| Mike Bishop              | The opinions expressed here reflect    |
| bishopm@source.asset.com | those of this station, its management, |
| Member: Team Ada         | and the entire world.                  |

Re: Where to buy compiler

[John McCormick]

>Thanks for all your suggestions it looks like what I want is the Merdian
>compiler.  (anyone with lots of info on it feel free to send me it)
>THe question is where can I buy this compiler?  I checked half the
>computer stores in California and no one has it.  Thanks in advance

Students can buy the Meridian OpenAda compiler from D.C. Heath.   Their
phone number is 1-800-334-3284.  Tell the operator you are placing a
#1-PREFER order.

PC versions
   Five 3 1/2" disks plus documentation  (35629-8)
   Nine 5 1/4" disks plus documentation  (34139-8)

Mac version
   12 disks plus documentation           (35630-1)


I don't know the exact pricing.  Last Spring it was $59 plus shipping and tax.

John