Re: What's stopping you from using Ada for your next commercial project?

[KK6GM <mjsilva@scriptoriumdesigns.com>]

On Saturday, March 12, 2011 4:47:53 AM UTC-8, Stephen Leake wrote:
> KK6GM <mjs...@scriptoriumdesigns.com> writes:
> 
> > Are you saying that a relative newcomer to Ada can take a board out of
> > its shipping box in the early evening and be running Ada code
> > (including tasking - Ravenscar would be fine - and realtime features)
> > by later that evening?  I'd sure like to discover the board and
> > toolset that allows this, because I'll buy one today.  I know this is
> > possible with at least one C/C++ toolset (Rowley Crossworks with its
> > included tasking library) because I have done it.
> 
> Just to be clear on what you are saying:
> 
> 1) at the time you did this, you were a newcomer to both C and C++

No, but I did not need any advanced language skills.  The engineers I'm imagining will have embedded experience in C and/or C++, and they will be interested in seeing how Ada compares.  They will typically, I imagine, have tried Ada on a PC first.
 
> 2) The Rowley Crossworks toolset did not come with support for the board
>    you used. 

It did come with board support.  It targets a number of available boards, so I just had to install the correct BSP with a few clicks.
> 
> 3) You spent only a few hours writing a board support package for the
>    toolset+board combination.

See above.
> 
> 4) The toolset includes a tasking library, which you got working.

In a very short time, working from supplied examples.
> 
> If all of that is true, then yes, you can do the same with Ada.
> 
> Most people could not. Someone experienced with a particular toolset, and
> faced with a new board, could do this, but should expect to take longer,
> in any language.
> 
> The Ada runtime requires more work than the typical C runtime, because
> of tasking, exceptions, fixed point types, and other issues.

And that's why pretty much nobody who wants to evaluate embedded Ada on their own (as opposed to getting paid to do so) will make the effort.  It's up to an Ada tool vendor, perhaps in cooperation with a board vendor, to provide an out-of-the-box solution.

John McCormick's setup at the University of Northern Iowa is an interesting example.  An Ada toolset is already configured for the hardware, and the students can walk in and start programming to that Ada/hardware combination without first having to customize the Ada runtime to the hardware.