Re: Translating 83 => 9X (Was: Re: Ada 9X objectives)

[billwolf%hazel.cs.clemson.edu@hubcap.clemson.edu (William Thomas Wolfe, 2847 )]

From rfg@ics.uci.edu (Ronald Guilmette):
> I will ask one more time and hope for a more direct answer.  Has it already
> been decided that Ada 83 and Ada 9X will be sufficiently incompatible so
> as to *require* translation?  (Hint: this is a yes-or-no question.)

   I do not know as a fact that this is the case, but I do recall
   reading about plans for automatic 83 => 9X translation.  Perhaps
   someone having more direct knowledge of the situation could comment
   in greater detail.

   I would expect that there *would* be sufficient incompatibility, 
   just on the basis of the experiences with Ada 83 which have been
   documented in Ada Letters, etc., which indicate that certain changes
   are necessary.  I would also expect that if a free 83 => 9X translator
   is provided via the Ada Software Repository, the conversion process
   would be dominated by the time required to upgrade programmers, rather 
   than the time required to automatically upgrade existing Ada 83 software. 

   If you want to get a good idea of what the likely changes will be:

      o ACM SIGADA Ada Letters for the last 5 years or so
      o Ada 9X revision requests 
      o proceedings of Tri-Ada and other conferences 
      o the last chapter of Paul Hilfinger's ACM Distinguished
          Dissertation, "Abstraction Mechanisms and Language Design"

   are all excellent sources.


   Bill Wolfe, wtwolfe@hubcap.clemson.edu