Re: a new language, designed for safety !

["björn lundin" <b.f.lundin@gmail.com>]

Den torsdagen den 12:e juni 2014 kl. 13:24:30 UTC+2 skrev Peter Chapin:

> ... but my point is really that I'm not convinced Ada
> is an ideal language for high level applications in general. To me it
> feels like a low level language, similar in many ways to C, although C++
> would probably be a more appropriate comparable.
> 

It is an ideal language when you want to write high level systems,
like Warehouse Management Systems.
You work with Database, transactions to ERP systems like
orders, order lines, pick lines etc.

The concept of body/spec/separates makes it VERY useful in larger project teams.
The type system makes it SO much easier to keep fundamental changes to the system fairly simple. Like introduce another order status somewhere between 'opened' and 'closed' and actually catch the locations in the code that needs to be changed. Or introducing another field in a database table.

The design goal to make the language READABLE is also a great help,
when customer wants tweaking after 10-15 years.

> Consider Ada's arrays. They are fairly primitive and close to the
> machine. 

And simple to use, read and write. A maintainer's dream.

>Compare them with, say, lists in Haskell which are fully
> dynamic by default and come endowed with a powerful list comprehension
> sublanguage that makes generating and manipulating lists very simple.

But usually costing a lot in readability. After a couple of years,
the code is difficult to read/maintain.

 
> Ada can get the job done, of course, but it entails withing various
> packages and writing explicit loops, conditional statements, etc.

Again, a maintainers wet dream. When the original coder left the company 10 years ago, it is nice to understand what he/she did.
 
> Ada's design is excellent for a systems language. I much prefer using it
> over C (and even C++, although modern C++ is nice too in many ways) in
> systems applications. However, for "high level" applications... there
> are other languages out there that I think are better.

Well everyone for his own opinion. Personally, I see NO better
language to implement reliable, maintainable systems.


And If Ada was available for iOS, I would definitively use it

/Björn