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From: "Jeff Creem" <jcreem@atetola.mv.com>
Subject: Re: Suitability for small Windows projects
Date: 2000/09/26
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References: <8qr809$cjj@newshost.fujitsu.com.au>
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Date: 2000-09-26T23:31:32+00:00
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"Ray Smith" <Ray.Smith@fujitsu.com.au> wrote in message
news:8qr809$cjj@newshost.fujitsu.com.au...
> Hi There,
>
> I have been looking into Ada for hobby programming.
> (I am a professional Cobol / Visual Basic programmer with small amounts of
> experience in about a dozen of other languages)
>
> I have read the FAQ, browsed www.adahome.com but still had a couple of
> questions I hope someone can answer.
>
> 1.  Can Ada (Assume gnat) produce standalone Windows executables?  If so,
> how big are they compared to equivalent C executables? If no, how many
files
> would need to be distributed to run the application?
>
> 2.  Are there "good" libraries available for GUI, Winsockets and database
> connectivity?
>
> 3.  Are there any DirectX or libraries available for making games? (I have
> read the history of Ada and understand the goals but that doesn't mean Ada
> can't be used for fun!!!)
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ray Smith


I use Ada for fun all of the time (of course our ideas of fun are probably
different).

Go to www.adapower.com. It is more up to date and has a lot more information
about
using Ada on windows (mostly GNAT but there is no reason it has to be
GNAT...There are other
windows Ada compilers).

In fact, if you are going to write a game there is currently a $500.00 prize
being offered at adapower for
such a beast.

If you want to use DirectX you will need to download the directX SDK from
microsoft. I believe the
latest one comes with MS type libraries (to support thinks like Visual Basic
and other Langs).
With the type libraries and the COM tools at adapower you could be able to
build a very nice
DirectX binding (I have not played with the latest version but I was amazed
at how well earlier versions worked).

Depending on what you are doing or want to do I also sort of like doing some
GUI stuff with Gtk+
(http://gtkada.eu.org) Then your GUI can run on Solaris, Linux and
Win32...Gtk+ Probably not best choice for games
unless combined with OpenGL or something.

Good luck,
Jeff