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From: "Kenneth W. Sodemann" <stufflehead@bigfoot.com>
Subject: Re: I want to use ADA - Turbo Pascal/Delphi guy here
Date: 1998/02/25
Message-ID: <6d29lo$gld$3@news2.alpha.net>#1/1
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References: <6d0cdf$cnb$1@snow.b1.justsystem.co.jp>
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Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1998-02-25T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


ActiveX wrote in message <6d0cdf$cnb$1@snow.b1.justsystem.co.jp>...
>Hi there
>
>Now the problem is that I am seriously addicted to Delphi and I am in Japan
>where getting English books is a very difficult thing. Are the ADA
compilers
>on NT as friendly and intutive as Delphi?
>

Simple answer, no.

Longer answer:  I use OjbectAda, which really isn't too bad, but no where
near the quality of Delphi (or even VC++ for that matter).  Also, complaired
to those two products (and considering you need to get the Proffesional
version before you get a half way OK (but not incredibley great) GUI
builder), you can expect to pay a little more for the tool than you would
for a stripped down version of Delphi or VC++** (which at least are still
usable for descent Windows dev.), either that or be prepared to do the old
'C' style right on top of the API programming (the Win32 bindings are _very_
thin to say the least).  MFC bindings are available, but not at a reasonable
price for a home user.  Basically, we are dealing with economies of scale
here, and it would be really hard for any company to provide what you get
with Delphi or VC++ and still sell it for a cheap price (unless that company
were MS or Borland, but then they would have the front end already basically
done, and would just need to do the Ada specific stuff).

On the cheaper side (as in free), GNAT is a good compiler, and I have heard
that there may be some IDE's for it, though I have not used them, and I
would not expect them to be anywhere near as nice as Delphi's front end.

** heck, you can get all of Visual Studio now for about $500.00 if you look
around a little.

>To be frank, I really do envy you guys using ADA day in and day out. I
would
>like to do some serious work using ADA. I also do wonder why Borland has
not
>come out with an ADA compiler with a Delphi look and feel.

1.)  They probably feel (possibly correctly) that there is not enough demand
for them to actually make money on such a product.
2.)  Borland is not exactly in the best financial condition, and cannot
really afford to be risking what they do have on niche markets that they are
not already in (yes, I realize Pascal is a niche market, but they were
already in that one).

> It could be a real killer app.
>

For folks like you and me, yes.  For Borlands bottom line, I highly doubt
it.

--
Ken Sodemann
stufflehead@bigfoot.com
http://www.pcii.net/~stuffel
Go 23, 24, 36, & ABE.  Go Pack!!