Re: Ada syntax patents

[Georg Bauhaus <sb463ba@user1.uni-duisburg.de>]

Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> On 24 Feb 2005 13:16:09 -0600, Larry Kilgallen wrote:
> 
> 
>>The cited page says:
>>
>>	A system, method and computer-readable medium support the use
>>	of a single operator that allows a comparison of two variables
>>	to determine if the two variables point to the same location
>>	in memory. 
>>
>>which does not seem to me the same as a comparison operator.
> 
> 
> Does X'Address = Y'Address qualify?

By analogy, the sentence that mentions "ungrammatical"
can easily be "ported" to an Ada construct.

    if not (A in B) then

can be written

     if A not in B then

One Ada compiler maker is allowed to write a translator without
worrying about what another compiler maker is doing about the
translation of the second form. Right?

Programmers can write the second if statement and deliver
their code. They needn't worry about another programmer's
Ada compiler, if it is an Ada compiler.
  There is no patent on "not in" (AFAIK). The code is portable
between programmers, between projects, and between compilers.
This is of advantage to everyone. You can choose your compiler,
"not in" is no problem, neither a suing problem, nor a
translation problem, nor a maintenance problem. No FUD.

The patent potentially applies to BASIC compilers only, if at
all. (I don't know what clever tricks the patent lawyers
can play, the operator being present in Algol 68 (as per
Charles Lindsey), and probably also being present in
Simula 67 (according to Meyer's OOSC2).)
   Still this example demonstrates the mechanism employed by
one company in trying to get hold of a useful language construct,
with unpleasant consequences. One consequence would be that a
choice is likely gone for everyone. Another is that programs
could become less portable. A third is increased market control.
In particular, the competition (e.g. REAL Software) might face
a problem that has nothing to do with their capabilities as
compiler writers. Nothing to do with price, as well. The linked
page (in another post) about the Realbasic compiler explains.

Georg Bauhaus