From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on
	ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal
X-Spam-Level: *
X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.5 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_50,FREEMAIL_FROM,
	FROM_STARTS_WITH_NUMS autolearn=no autolearn_force=no
	version=3.4.5-pre1
Date: 30 Apr 92 10:56:55 EDT
From: Mark Bayern <71540.2651@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: Good Ada's for DOS?
Message-ID: <920430145654_71540.2651_DHB56-1@CompuServe.COM>
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

Does anyone know of a good mature implementation of Ada for the PC-DOS world?
Meridian's Ada is simply not acceptable.
 
Problems start with the sales people, they've advertised a package call
'OpenUser Inteface/Graphics' claiming it had overlapping windows, and
incorporates 'Motif-style' windows.  Only after receiving the package do you
discover that those two features are incompatible.  If you want 'Motif-style'
you can't overlap graphic windows!
 
Second sales problem -- a salesman told me that paying by credit card for
their 'Graphical Libraries' would speed up shipment, because we wouldn't have
the credit approval process involved with an open PO.  So I order it by credit
card (they charged the card Feb 12th). Didn't ship the product until the last
day of March!  In phone conversations with them I discovered that they didn't
even send the product out for duplication until they had all the orders in
hand from their Feb promotion!
 
I've been implementing factory-floor automation using Meridian's Ada, but I've
found that I spend more time fighting their implementation bugs than working
on my own problems.  Meridian's tech support has been spectacular in going
through all the motions and then saying 'the problem has been reported, and we
have no date for correction'. (And I've spent an extra $200. on them for their
'Premium Customer Assistance Plan'.) I've discovered that they know of a host
of problems, but will not give you that information unless you call _after_
you've isolated a specific problem.
 
Problems that I can think of quickly:
 
    1.  The 'Ada Graphics Utility Library' does not work in CGA mode, they
        have admitted that they have no interest in making it work.  (Thus
        leaving a falsehood in their documentation.)
    2.  The tty.get procedure no longer recognizes the F11 and F12 keys
        (it did using version 4.1 but not with version 4.1.1.  Version 4.1.1.
        is a _must_ unless you like to receive STORAGE_ERROR exceptions.)
    3.  The link-time optimizer flag to be agressive about inlining functions
        causes the link to fail.  Solution "don't use it".
    4.  Using compile-time optimize flag with packages in the aflex/ayacc code
        causes the compiler to die with no meaningfull error messages.
    5.  The procedure file_io.move_file_pointer does not work, and returns
        an incorrect value for the file's length.
    6.  There are many others I could list, but you get the idea.
 
Anyway back to the original questions:
 
    A.  Who has a mature, reliable Ada system available for the PC-DOS
        world?
    B.  Anyone else have any experience with Meridian Ada, good or bad?
        (Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one testing it for them)
 
(If Ted Holden uses this Ada, I understand his problem!)
 
Mark Bayern, MLB Electronics, Inc.      voice 409-722-0655
                                        fax   409-724-2258
                                        email 71540.2651@compuserve.com