Re: Ada and Mesa

[pascal.obry@der.edfgdf.fr (Pascal Obry)]

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jsa@organon.com (Jon S Anthony) wrote:

>In article <DsuqM2.IBK@news.cern.ch> berlichr@afal30 (Ruediger Berlich) writes:

>> I think about migrating from C/C++ to Ada. I've been looking for a 
>> language, that meets a couple of demands, thereby preserving the power
>> of C++.                                           ^^^^^^^^^^
>> On my wish-list are :
>> - The language should be standardised

>No need to worry about preserving this since C++ isn't standardized!!
>Even so, Ada95 _is_ (ISO/IEC 8652:1995)

>> - There should be threads 

>No need to worry about preserving this since C++ has _NO_ threads!!
>Even so, Ada95 certainly does.

>> - Object-oriented programming

>Yes, Ada is fully OO.


>> - Portability 

>About as portable as you could reasonably expect.  Really.  If you are
>the least bit careful about platform issues, it will port _much_
>easier than C (that supposed paragon of portability - NOT!)


>> - Libraries for graphics-programming available.

>Well, X/Motif, Win32 are available (freely).  You can also go the
>route of AdaMagic - the Ada compiler for JavaVM.

>See these resources:

>-- X11/Motif
>--
>http://www.inmet.com/~mg/x11ada/x11ada.html

>-- Win32
>--
>http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/AdaIC/source-code/bindings/win32ada/win32ada.html

>-- Tcl/TK
>--
>http://www.ocsystems.com/xada/tash

>-- Java
>--
>http://www.inmet.com



>> O.k., Ada9x seems to fit the first three requirements.

>Ada95 for the last year.


>> I don't know about the fourth point. As far as I can see, there is only
>> GNAT, which is available on a majority of platforms. As it is under the 
>> GPL, I am not sure, whether I can develop commercial programs with it.

>1. There are other compilers available.  Several.  For example,
>Thomson's ObjectAda (complete with IDE, GUI builder, etc.) and
>Rational's.

>2. Gnat is definitely usable for commercial software development - 
>no restrictions or licensing problems at all.  We currently are
>using it for this.  And it is definitely ready for "industrial
>strength" applications.


>> I would be glad, if someone who develops commercial programs with GNAT,
>> could send me his/her experiences concerning the GPL.

>No need.  No problem.  This was discussed to death here about a year
>ago.


>> The fifth point : I couldn't find any hint that there do exist
>> bindings from Ada9x to e.g. X11. I have an Ada-Tutorial from some
>> WWW-server, which explains Ada9x for C/C++-programmers. It says
>> something about the possibility tolink with existing
>> C/C++/Fortran-object-files.  So does this mean, it is possible to
>> call e.g. xlib or xtoolkit-functions from Ada, just as you would

>Yes.  Certainly.  I do so all the time.


>> from Frotran for example ?

>Easier.


>>  Is it possible to use the Mesa-library
>> or other OpenGL-packages ?  Thanks for any hint.

>Just goes to show, I don't know everything! :-)  Really, I don't
>know about these two (though I think the latter has been mentioned
>as available...)

Well here I can help. I have done some OpenGL with GNAT under NT and
Windows95 with the Win32Ada binding. It's working ok. There were some
bugs in the Win32Ada binding that I have reported, and intermetrics is
about to release a new version of Win32Ada that works for GNAT 3.04.
Win32Ada is a complete binding to the Win32 API.

I don't really know Mesa. I think it's a free OpenGL library in C for
Linux. As Jon told you, it's really easy to interface Ada95 with C.
You must have a look at the Interfaces (and childs) package.


>/Jon

>> Please reply via mail to
>> berlich@pc66.mppmu.mpg.de]
>> 
>> Bye and have a nice day,
>> Ruediger
>> 
>-- 
>Jon Anthony
>Organon Motives, Inc.
>1 Williston Road, Suite 4
>Belmont, MA 02178

>617.484.3383
>jsa@organon.com


Pascal.

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