Re: Ada to C++ translator?

["Marin David Condic" <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com>]

"Lao Xiao Hai" <laoxhai@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:3A8CB3BE.B4DAB0BE@ix.netcom.com...
> With the abrogation of the Ada "mandate" there are quite a few of these
> unsupported
> platforms for Ada 95.   Since the DoD contractor is not required to use
Ada,
> they
> have no incentive to purchase a compiler.   Since they have not incentive
to
> purchase
> a compiler, the compiler publisher has no incentive to produce a compiler.
> This is
> especially true for those small, seldom used platforms that are so
specialized
> that the
> market is lean for them.    We have a lot of specialized  military
computers
> still in
> service (and being upgraded) for which is little likelihood of there ever
> being an
> Ada 95 compiler.    There ought to be since these are often
safety-critical.
> However,
> many DoD program managers have concluded that Ada is no longer relevant.
> With
> this kind of stupidity on the increase, compiler publishers are forced to
take
> the path of
> best ROI.
>
There is definitely a "Catch 22" situation with Ada compilers in this and
other areas. It's tough to generate the critical mass needed to make Ada
more popular - especially in the embedded world where there is such a big
dependency on tools other than the compiler.

One thing that might help considerably would be to get Ada front-ends onto
more of the embedded compilers already available. For example, there are
lots of embedded projects that are using the gcc compiler in some manner.
Last I checked the web site (http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/gcc.html) for
gcc, they were claiming 6 language front ends built into the compiler. (O.K.
3 of them are C derivatives.) Ada, Pascal, Cobol, et alia are mentioned, but
are not part of the release. It seems to me that if Ada were part of the
standard gcc release, then at least there is the possibility of a project
that uses gcc to find a way to utilize Ada. Maybe one day "Real Soon Now"
this will happen. Until it does, it becomes very hard for embedded projects
to consider Ada if/when some part of the target environment changes and
there is no Ada toolset available to do the job. (And I'm terribly sorry to
inform the vendors that we just can't afford to pay them to rewrite their
compilers & toolsets if there is a less expensive option open to us. :-)

BTW: Green Hills (http://www.ghs.com/products.html) mentions they have
products for C/C++ and Ada development for embedded targets so there is a
choice for some platforms. Why the number of Ada targets is less than the
number of C/C++ targets, I do not know. It would seem that if the compiler
front-end & intermediate code supports Ada, that all the same targets should
work for either language. (Maybe it is the RTK or RTOS?) IMHO, a
proliferation of Ada front-ends would go a long way to gaining that critical
mass. Availability is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for
success.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/