Re: Ada folks need to talk to C++ folks more

[wrp <i3text@gmail.com>]

On Jul 30, 5:59 pm, "Nasser M. Abbasi" <n...@12000.org> wrote:
> On 7/30/2012 2:45 PM, wrp wrote:
> In the area of computation and numerics, it is not even close.
> C++ is used so much in this area now, even more than Fortran it seems.

Having looked at Fortran 2003, I don't understand why C++ gets used so
much in physics. This is one area where I wouldn't try to convert
anyone from C++ to Ada, since I think they should be using Fortran.

No, I wouldn't promote Ada where the focus is entirely on numerics. As
described in _Scientific Ada_ (Ford, 1986), the Numerical Algorithms
Group took a serious look at Ada in the 1980s, but found it lacking
and evidently decided to stay with Fortran and C. Later versions of
Ada addressed some of their issues, but as far as I can tell Fortran
is still the best choice.

Ada might be suitable where there is less demand for exotic
capability. I thought about quantitative finance. My impression is
that the choice of C++ is not given a lot of thought; it's just
popular and fast. I've briefly looked at the literature for quants and
didn't see much call for the extensive libraries you see for C++.

Another possibility is computer graphics. The language is certainly
suitable; it just needs good libraries. There are a few projects and I
wonder what would be required to get something production quality.
With good graphics support, maybe Ada would be ready to support game
engine development.