Re: Ada student homework ?

[Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com>]

In article <53BR5.438553$i5.7568694@news1.frmt1.sfba.home.com>,
  tmoran@acm.org wrote:
> >which has the advantage of not being tied to windows.
> Or disadvantage, depending on the situation.

Well not being tied to windows can never be a disadvantage
per se. Obviously if one can have a portable solution which
is as easy or easier to use than a non-portable solution,
the former is preferable.

Now as to whether GtkAda is easier to use than CLAW for the
domains where functionality overlaps, that's a matter of
experience. So far, our interaction with users of GtkAda has
been very favorable in terms of them finding that they can
do portable complex stuff very easily, but obviously your
milage will vary.

A completely general rule is that you do NOT want to tie what
you write to a particular machine or operating system unless
you really benefit from doing so. Far too often, people create
non-portable code carelessly, and it is really remarkable to
see how many of the porting problems from Ada 83 to Ada 95
result from such carelessness (because this transition is
indeed often also associated with moving to new machines or
new operating systems).

It is indeed more difficult than it should be to write code
that runs on NT without getting tied to NT in a non-portable
manner. No doubt Microsoft is happy to leave it that way.
Perhaps indeed the "or disadvantage" quote above refers to
the possibility that the manufacturer of the software may
have NON-technical reasons to encourage people being tied
to windows :-)





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