Re: compiler errors

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <3heoav$eru@CUBoulder.Colorado.EDU>,
CUTRIGHT  ANDREW SCOTT <cutright@benji.Colorado.EDU> wrote:

[snip]

>Setting up Ada library
>	adacomp -nl ./adalib Map.ada
>	touch ./adalib-built
>	adacomp -a -s -l ./adalib ./Map.ada
>	adacomp -a -s -l ./adalib ./StringDefs.ada -- the definition file
>chaos: tup_size argument null pointer
>execution abandoned 
>chaos: tup_size argument null pointer
>execution abandoned 
>Ada/Ed Internal error(GEN) for ./StringDefs.ada
>*** Error code 2

[snip]

You have bumped into the accursed Ada/Ed Internal Error. Bsically,
it's simply a bug in the compiler. We've tried to track this down at
GW, and we certainly wish we could, as we are using the Unix version
and trying to support DOS and Mac environments with Ada/Ed as their
compiler. No luck. I don't even have a reliable workaround.

Ada/Ed is OK for simple generics, but even our second-semester students
have found that it's rather fragile for any project using generics
nontrivially.

My suggestion to you (or your teacher or lab manager) is to install
GNAT, assuming you have a platform for which it is supported (SunOS,
Solaris, Linux, DEC Alpha, HP, etc.). GNAT is Ada 95, is actively
being developed and supported, has been used to write itself (always a
good recommendation!), and will do a much better job on generics.
It also uses the GNU back end, generates real executables, and
interfaces nicely to other languages.

I wish I could be more helpful, but generics are really Ada/Ed's
Achilles Heel, and trying to fix this would take far more effort
than anyone here or at NYU has available. Go for GNAT!

Cheers -

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One, two, three ways an underdog: Ada fan, Mac fan, Old Liberal Democrat
------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Ada on the World-Wide Web: http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/
------------------------------------------------------------------------