Re: If not Ada, what else...

[Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed@ix.netcom.com>]

On Mon, 20 Jul 2015 10:31:05 -0700, Paul Rubin <no.email@nospam.invalid>
declaimed the following:

>Tero Koskinen <tero.koskinen@iki.fi> writes:
>> However, there are multiple Ada 2005 compilers.
>> Irvine ICCAda supports Ada 2005, ApexAda and ObjectAda from PTC(Atego)
>> support Ada 2005, Janus/Ada supports one or two Ada 2005 features.
>> Also, I think RRSoftware (Janus/Ada) got some of their features to Ada
>> 2005&2012. ...
>
>Thanks.  I now wonder if Ada 2012 has gotten much uptake from the
>traditional big users.  I would have thought so since it's a real
>improvement over older versions, but I understand how critical-systems
>users might be more technologically conservative than internet startups
>for example.  Maybe they're all still using Ada 2005 or Ada 95 and plan
>to stay with it.

	Heck... At work we are running an OpenVMS/VAX (not Alpha) emulation on
Windows boxes in order to run a cross-platform Ada-83 compiler (no longer
in production, to my knowledge) to build the boot software for some
aircraft flight systems.

	Do not expect that to be upgraded anytime soon -- bad enough it takes
months for a sub-contractor to independently certify the boot software
doesn't contain superfluous code, or unpredictable timings... Having to get
a new build chain (OS, compiler, etc.) certified is not in the $$$.

	Heck -- we've had a study running just to certify a different toolchain
where the only difference is WinXP vs Win7 -- when the toolchain doesn't
even produce binaries for Intel architectures! IE: are the resultant
binaries completely identical when the same source is built on each OS --
if there is ANY difference, it must be evaluated to be proven to have no
effect.

-- 
	Wulfraed                 Dennis Lee Bieber         AF6VN
    wlfraed@ix.netcom.com    HTTP://wlfraed.home.netcom.com/