Re: Q: access to subprogram

[Magnus.Kempe@di.epfl.ch (Magnus Kempe)]

rogoff@sccm.Stanford.EDU (Brian Rogoff) writes:
: Magnus, do you have a list of issues such as this one in which you
: feel that orthogonality and usability were traded for the comfort of a
: few implementors?

A list?  No.  For the most part, Ada 95 is great.  I'll submit comments
when it is time for Ada 0Y (and/or I'll experiment with the source code
of GNAT :-).

An interesting research project for academic people would be to add
downward closure to GNAT and measure the impact on the compiler and
generated code; then do the same on another compiler to compare static
vs display effects.  Brian, maybe you know someone who would do that? :-)
Now that the source code of an Ada compiler is available, where are
the academic experiments?

I think some improvements that were seen as too expensive or risky this
time around would have brought Ada closer to the power of functional
languages.  In a few years the OO movement will be followed by another
one, and it will be interesting to see if Ada can gracefully adapt a
second time.

In the meantime, our best path is to learn how to use the full power of
the language--in order to create many usable, reliable, maintainable,
and profitable applications.

-- 
Magnus Kempe                  "I know not what course others may take, but as
Magnus.Kempe@di.epfl.ch        for me, Give me Liberty... or give me Death!"
http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Team/MK/                               -- Patrick Henry

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