Re: Ada 9X Mapping

[tedg@apollo.HP.COM (Ted Grzesik)]

In article <1991May9.055530.1516@netcom.COM> jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter) writes:
>Now now--let's not jump to conclusions. I've seen good C and wretched Ada,
>no doubt about it: nobody ever claimed otherwise. What IS claimed is that
>if you pull a listing at random from a pile of C programs and a listing
>at random from a pile of Ada programs and compare them, the smart money
>bet is that the Ada program is better engineered.

About the worst Ada code I've seen is by someone that was obviously a prior
C programmer.  In general, I have observed code that was written in the
syntax of one language, but used the style of another language.

I worked on a large Ada program (an Ada compiler, to be precise) that used 
lots of UNCHECKED_CONVERSION and UNCHECKED_DEALLOCATION.  Once you've 
introduced these two routines into your program, you're just writing fancy 
C code.  Using these routines indicates either a flaw in your design or a
limitation of the Ada language.  Usually, it's a flaw in the design.

              My $0.02


Ted Grzesik       Massachusetts Language Lab             Hewlett-Packard Company
tedg@apollo.hp.com                          Chelmsford, MA  (508) 256-6600 x5959
"Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
                                       -- Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)