Re: Ada used in General Aviation (GA) applications?

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

Actually, I'm looking at a new control project that would use PowerPC 
and VxWorks. Current leaning is towards Aonix for it. If ACT had a 
soup-to-nuts offering in that area, I'd want to know about it - but I'm 
not the ultimate customer. (I can recommend and maybe specify in the 
proposal, but the customer has to bob their head up and down. :-)

It isn't just a matter of having a compiler that targets an embedded 
processor/OS and cross-compiles though. For one thing, most of the 
systems I'm dealing with don't have an OS, so you need a compiler that 
can go right down to the bare silicon & comes with its own suitable RTK. 
  For another thing, it can't just be a compiler that happens to 
generate the right code for the machine and getting all the pieces 
married up is left as an exercise for the student. The schedule I'm 
looking at just plain won't allow for any messing around with cobbling 
together pieces. I need something where I can take it out of the box, 
plug it in and get started putting code in my machine.

I don't know if ACT offers something that well integrated. I just know 
that in a prior life when I had been asking ACT about providing an 
embedded compiler for a PowerPC project (no OS) they politely sent me 
off to talk to someone else. I rather took that to mean they weren't 
interested in the embedded market much.

Keep in mind also that (in terms of numbers of units sold) most embedded 
machines are pretty much smaller than your garden variety PowerPC. 
People mostly concede that they would have a hard time getting Ada to 
run on things like the HC11, etc. Now Spark? That might work well there.

MDC



Jeff C, wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> I dont disagree with your initial points (deleted) but the stuff above is
> not entirely correct.
> 
> ACT certainly does "make a kit" to be used for embedded systems.
> They are the "preferred" vendor for vxWorks (Real-time embedded OS)
> they have or had a product for LynxOS (Real-time embdded though admittedly
> unix like OS)
> They will support (for a fee) proprietary kernels and no executive type
> installs.
> 
> They target PowerPC which is a popular embedded computer...Perhaps not in
> your world...
> 
> I have heard rumors of ARM support at various times (although again you are
> correct they dont market it for ARM)
> 
> As for the "Perhaps they'd like to bid on  the next engine control I'll be
> working on?"
> 
> I would say...perhaps your right..
> 
> 
> 
> 


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Marin David Condic
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