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=1.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!GE-CRD.ARPA!blackje%sungod.tcpip From: blackje%sungod.tcpip@GE-CRD.ARPA Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: "C" AND Ada Message-ID: <8708251954.AA27345@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Date: Tue, 25-Aug-87 16:42:00 EDT Article-I.D.: ucbvax.8708251954.AA27345 Posted: Tue Aug 25 16:42:00 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 27-Aug-87 01:39:38 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet List-Id: Received: by sungod.steinmetz (3.2/1.1x Steinmetz) id AA02000; Tue, 25 Aug 87 10:18:39 EDT Date: Tue, 25 Aug 87 10:18:39 EDT From: emmett black Posted-Date: Tue, 25 Aug 87 10:18:39 EDT Message-Id: <8708251418.AA02000@sungod.steinmetz> To: info-ada@ada20.isi.edu Subject: Re: "C" AND Ada concerning translating other languages to Ada -- I do sort of agree with Kent (the man from xanth) that converted programs should be "rethought" rather than just automagically and blindly translated.. And I also agree that those Cobol conversions he mentions create code that is less maintainable than the original... However, I do not quite agree that we should extend that observation into Ada... If you JUST blindly translate from some language into Ada and stop there -- then I still agree -- it's a mistake. But we did a FORTRAN to Ada translator -- which I thought was a mistake at first -- and did use it to translate a buncha stuff... and you DO get "BAD Ada" -- (GIGO, remember?) -- but DONT STOP THERE -- that bad Ada turned out to be significantly more useful in spotting all the nasties the FORTRAN programmers had slipped into the code and in providing a means for "reverse engineering" the FORTRAN -- making it EASIER to RETHINK and rewrite the old program -- because it was easier to get a grasp on what the original program was supposed to do in the first place. If somebody tried to turn in that first pass automagically translated into Ada program -- they should get a really unfriendly reception... but if they use that as a means to accelerate the re-engineering, then they did OK. --Emmett BlackJE@GE-CRD.ARPA