Re: what about having ada compile ada on the fly?

[rleif@rleif.com (Robert C. Leif)]

From: Bob Leif
Since the time to compile with the combination of an Ada compiler and
a modern PC has greatly diminished, it may be time to start
considering compiling at run-time instead of the use of complex data
structures based on access types or discriminants.

For instance at run-time, I can set the size of an array of records;
however, I can not simply create the composition of the record from
precompiled types. If I have 26 sensors consisting of a mixture of
types integer and float, and I wish to have the user select the ones
to log; could I do this in the equivalent of SPARK with the addition
of generics?   These precompiled types are:
A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z. The user selects
C, G, N, and W. One could create a program that produced a record type
(Data_Rec_Type) consisting of these fields and instantiating a generic
package to create an array with the user specified array size and type
Data_Rec_Type. The generic would already include the array storage
operations. Could this be compiled and linked as a DLL or similar
structure and used by the program? Again, the actual source to be
compiled would be Ada.

cl1motorsports <cwlambert76@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<pan.2003.12.20.06.38.43.634696@yahoo.com>...
> I've seen that there are discussions about enhancing the current ada95
> spec. I was interested to know if there has been any talk of implementing
> an api for compiling ada code. I've read that some languages implement
> this feature(i think one was smalltalk), and i could see how that would be
> very useful for making an IDE that would load modules or scripts on the
> fly. I dunno much about the topic yet, my "Dragon Book" compiler book
> hasn't gotten here for Christmas yet. I have ideas for an IDE for linux
> and customizing the IDE with scripts that were compiled on the fly sounded
> like a good idea. I dunno just a thought *shrug*.