Re: newbie inquiry

[Jean-Marc Bourguet <jm@bourguet.org>]

"Steven Shaw" <steve.shaw@uq.net.au> writes:

> Recently, I've been reading about Modula-3. I got exciting about it but
> recently found out that it's pretty much dead. Ada, on the other hand, has
> been around awhile and recently because part of the "standard" GCC distro.
> I'm hoping that Ada can be my m3. I'm quite new to Ada. I've read the
> lovelace tutorial and found some other useful material (but I haven't read
> it all yet). There's alot of info out there... If there are any comparisons
> with m3 that would be useful for me.
> 
> Features I kinda know Ada has (but might be wrong)
>     * modules
>     * fixed string and dynamically growing strings (excellent)
>     * generics
> 
> Features I'm hoping Ada has:
>     * gc

No.  Controlled types can help.  Good design reduce also the need.

>     * multiple interface inheritence (like Java, m3 doesn't have it)

No.  AFAIK, there is an extension proposed for normalisation.  Gnat
has also an extension, I don't know if they are the same.

>     * fast language interoperability with C (ffi and data sharing)
Yes

>     * ability to put data/objects into shared-memory for sharing between
> processes

You can define memory pool for this.

>     * speed of C?

If you use C level structure.

>     * libraries for database access, sockets/protocols, xml

see http://adapower.com/, http://libre.act-europe.fr/ and recent posts.
> 
> I read somewhere that Ada doesn't have GC. I think I heard that gnat
> supports gc.

False for most meaning of "support".

>  How does this work out for you? Does this mean you have to use
> free() when using the standard library?

No. (In fact that would be Unchecked_Deallocation).

> Would Ada be as good a choice as C for writing an OS? a dbms?

People here would argue that's a better choice for a pure technical
point of view.
 
> The Ada spec is very big. Is it all implemented in gnats?

In Gnat yes.  (Gnats is another thing).

> Are there features in the spec that could/should be avoided?

There are things that can be misused, but I know of non that are to be
avoided at all cost.

A+

-- 
Jean-Marc