Re: Is the "Ada mandate" being reconsidered?

[Tom Robinson <robinson@gdesystems.com>]

>> The loss of credible compiler companies - As the number of credible
>> compiler companies shinks and DoD software budgets continue to
>> shink getting a vendor for the particular platform are harder and
>> also more expensive. 
>
>Well, this sounds good, it's just wrong.  Gnat is free and of better
>overall quality than all but the very best Ada83 compilers.

I am interested in what measure you are using for quality.  From the small
snipits I have read on the net it is not clear that the generated code
quality  of gnat is quite up to current standards yet.  Am I missing something
here?  Has anyone done ACEC or PIWG comparisons yet?

>Thomson's ObjectAda compiler is dirt cheap for personal
>use and the professional version is cheaper than a "professional" C++
>package.  Also, Gnat is on all sorts of platforms.

Is it really?  When I look at the Ada 95 validated compiler list it 
looks pretty small to me.  So you're saying that gnat is available as
long as I am willing to pay for a validation and arrange for maintenence
or do it myself.  

>And since
>ObjectAda uses the Intermetrics AdaMagic frontend, it will likely be
>all over the place too (or at least highly compatible counterparts
>based on the same frontend).
>
>No, overall, this situation is _vastly_ better today than before.
>
>

I don't understand how you can say that the situation is _vastly_ better
based on what you have stated.  It is a fact that the Ada 83 compiler
choices have been shrinking.  All one has to do is look at the list of
Validated compilers and realize that many companies that did Ada 83 
validations (Alsys, TeleSoft, Verdix, Meridian, Systeam, (off the top of my
head)) are no longer operating under those names.  They have merged with
other companies or gone out of business.  Other companies have 
announced that they will use non-proprietary front ends for their
product offerings (DEC).  Other OEMs have transitioned from directly
offering Ada products to offering them through a 3rd party (IBM->OCSystems).

I think that the Ada market is in transition.  As an Ada user the transition
to Ada 95 seems like it might be a bit tricky.  For large projects it looks
like there are going to be more decisions that I (as a buyer of Ada technology)
will need to make:

  (1) Go with gnat.  Do my own maintenence of the "free" compiler.
  (2) Go with gnat.  Pay someone *ACT?* to provide support.
  (3) Buy a product from a vendor that does not have direct support
      for fixing their own front end problems (AdaMagic).
  (4) Buy a traditional type of Ada product from the few vendors that
      still exist (Rational?).

Tom Robinson