From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM, PLING_QUERY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: a07f3367d7,b6d862eabdeb1fc4 X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,public,usenet X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!news1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.glorb.com!newsfeed2.telusplanet.net!newsfeed.telus.net!edtnps82.POSTED!7564ea0f!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada From: Duke Normandin Subject: Re: Ada noob here! Is Ada widely used? References: <7GwJn.4712$z%6.3258@edtnps83> <4bf6e7fb$0$2354$4d3efbfe@news.sover.net> User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.1 (Darwin) Message-ID: <6nEJn.4422$Z6.4323@edtnps82> Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 23:07:46 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 75.154.79.143 X-Trace: edtnps82 1274483266 75.154.79.143 (Fri, 21 May 2010 17:07:46 MDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 17:07:46 MDT Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:11858 Date: 2010-05-21T23:07:46+00:00 List-Id: On 2010-05-21, Peter C. Chapin wrote: > Duke Normandin wrote: > >> To begin with. Looks like I should be learning SPARK? or should I start with >> Ada, _then_ graduate to SPARK? > > It depends on what you are trying to do, but Ada is a more general language. > Unless you have a specific need to use SPARK I would suggest starting with > full Ada. > > SPARK is a specialized language designed for high integrity and safety > critical programming. It's a very restricted dialect of Ada with additional > annotations (in the form of Ada comments) and a corresponding tool set to > process those annotations. Because the executable part of SPARK is so > restricted, it is not a very convenient language to use for many > applications. While it's great at what it does, it should be applied only > where it is really needed. > > One of SPARK's strengths is that you don't have to write the entire program > using it. You can use SPARK for critical "core" algorithms and use full Ada > for the less critical components. Of course deciding what is and is > not "critical" can be a tricky issue. > > Peter > Thanks for putting SPARK in the proper perspective for me. I guessed that it might be a specialized incarnation of Ada, but wasn't quite sure. -- Duke *** Tolerance becomes a crime, when applied to evil [Thomas Mann] ***