GNAT version for Ada training?

GNAT version for Ada training?

[Marco]

We are going to create an Ada training class for "experienced" (loosely) programmers. We need a free native compiler that works currently on XP and maybe Vista currently but will work on Windows 7 (64 bit) in the near term. GPL license is just fine. I really don't want a cygwin based solution if possible because that is a somewhat cumbersome arrangement for Windows. A native MinGW compiler would be fine or maybe something from AdaCore. We only need Ada95 since the "graduates" will be working on enhancements, upgrades and fixes to existing code bases. Command-line interface is fine because we have GUI editors such as Slickedit available.

Please include URLs if possible with your recommendations.
Non GNAT solutions are ok also but vendors please don't expect any additional sales.

It is an opportunity for these young developers to learn a good language.

thanks 
Marco

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[Jeffrey Creem]

On 1/29/2011 8:20 AM, Marco wrote:
> We are going to create an Ada training class for "experienced" (loosely) programmers. We need a free native compiler that works currently on XP and maybe Vista currently but will work on Windows 7 (64 bit) in the near term. GPL license is just fine. I really don't want a cygwin based solution if possible because that is a somewhat cumbersome arrangement for Windows. A native MinGW compiler would be fine or maybe something from AdaCore. We only need Ada95 since the "graduates" will be working on enhancements, upgrades and fixes to existing code bases. Command-line interface is fine because we have GUI editors such as Slickedit available.
>
> Please include URLs if possible with your recommendations.
> Non GNAT solutions are ok also but vendors please don't expect any additional sales.
>
> It is an opportunity for these young developers to learn a good language.
>
> thanks
> Marco

Seems like GNAT GPL edition is what you want.

http://libre.adacore.com/libre/

Certainly can pair with slickedit if you'd like but GPS (which is
also available there) is sort of hard to beat (though I must admit
it still feels a little off under Windows as compared to Linux/Solaris).

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[John McCormick]

On Jan 29, 8:25 am, Jeffrey Creem <j...@thecreems.com> wrote:
>
> Seems like GNAT GPL edition is what you want.
>
> http://libre.adacore.com/libre/
>
> Certainly can pair with slickedit if you'd like but GPS (which is
> also available there) is sort of hard to beat (though I must admit
> it still feels a little off under Windows as compared to Linux/Solaris).

AdaGIDE by Martin Carlisle at the US Air Force Academy is a nice
simple IDE for GNAT that we use in our freshman level classes.  The
AdaGIDE home page is at http://adagide.martincarlisle.com/

John

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Sun, 30 Jan 2011 14:12:11 +0100, John McCormick <mccormick@cs.uni.edu>  
a écrit:
>> Certainly can pair with slickedit if you'd like but GPS (which is
>> also available there) is sort of hard to beat (though I must admit
>> it still feels a little off under Windows as compared to Linux/Solaris).
>
> AdaGIDE by Martin Carlisle at the US Air Force Academy is a nice
> simple IDE for GNAT that we use in our freshman level classes.  The
> AdaGIDE home page is at http://adagide.martincarlisle.com/
Wanted to ask a question here: why do installation of AdaGIDE in Windows,  
requires administrative rights ? I've tried to install it from a user  
account (for multiple reasons, I self restrict the use of the  
administrative account), and was so much surprise this kind of application  
requires an administrative account to be installed, that I thrown it to  
the trash-bin right after I get this message.


-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

“I am fluent in ASCII” [Warren 2010]

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[Randy Brukardt]

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"Yannick Duch�ne (Hibou57)" <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> wrote in message 
news:op.vqhz552bule2fv@garhos...
>> AdaGIDE by Martin Carlisle at the US Air Force Academy is a nice
>> simple IDE for GNAT that we use in our freshman level classes.  The
>> AdaGIDE home page is at http://adagide.martincarlisle.com/
>Wanted to ask a question here: why do installation of AdaGIDE in Windows, 
>requires administrative rights ? I've tried to install it from a user 
>account (for multiple reasons, I self restrict the use of the 
>administrative account), and was so much surprise this kind of application 
>requires an administrative account to be installed, that I thrown it to 
>the trash-bin right after I get this message.

Windows tries hard to discourage installation of any program without 
administrator permissions, especially on Windows XP and more recent. Any 
program that needs to modify the registry is going to have problems - and 
"good" Windows programs will write various things into the registry.

I've tried to make this for for Janus/Ada, and it works OK Windows XP if you 
chose restrictive settings (install for current user only, don't install 
Claw). But I cannot make the installer work on Windows 7 that way, and it 
isn't worth the fight. So the next version of the installer is going to be 
administrator only (presuming I can figure out how to get the manifest set 
properly).

Note that all Windows installers ought to register an uninstaller with 
Windows (requiring registry writes). And a program like AdaGIDE probably 
will want to register extensions like .Ada as well -- that definitely 
requires registry writing only in administrator mode. (This is the same 
reason that you can't install Claw from a non-administrator account: the 
builder registers its extensions and that doesn't work.)

So I don't find that unusual; I'd pretty much expect it to be the case.

                                         Randy.

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:28:17 +0100, Randy Brukardt <randy@rrsoftware.com>  
a écrit:
> Windows tries hard to discourage installation of any program without
> administrator permissions, especially on Windows XP and more recent. Any
> program that needs to modify the registry is going to have problems -
There are plenty of useful things which can already be done with  
HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Writing to this one, does not requires administrative  
rights.

> and
> "good" Windows programs will write various things into the registry.
The quotes was welcome, as as-the time goes, more people enjoy  
configuration in files instead of the registry: drop-and-run, the same it  
is possible with MacOS. The application reside in its own directory, and  
mostly write only there, optionally in Application Data, except the  
documents it generates. If better OS integration is needed, a *.reg file  
to be merged in the registry may be provided as an option. Some provide  
two options: download classic installer or download zip archive and  
perform optional integration from withing the application (some provide a  
dialog to add file association or misc handlers) or manually and  
optionally.

> I've tried to make this for for Janus/Ada, and it works OK Windows XP if  
> you
> chose restrictive settings (install for current user only, don't install
> Claw).
That's legitimate there. If one want to install for all user, not  
surprising administrative account will be required. For single user  
installation, this should not.

> But I cannot make the installer work on Windows 7 that way, and it
> isn't worth the fight. So the next version of the installer is going to  
> be
> administrator only (presuming I can figure out how to get the manifest  
> set
> properly).
Do not have access to a Windows 7, so I don't know.

> Note that all Windows installers ought to register an uninstaller with
> Windows (requiring registry writes). And a program like AdaGIDE probably
> will want to register extensions like .Ada as well -- that definitely
> requires registry writing only in administrator mode.
No, really (unless I missed something), you can register an uninstaller  
and file extensions, from a user account. MinGW do that for its  
uninstaller.

I may need to say if I avoid using the admin account, this is to disable  
applications to do dangerous things (I believe I am not the only one). And  
when something wants to do administrative things while its purpose does  
not seems to requires so much high level privileged, I feel alarmed (why  
would someone need a knife to go to pick its children at school, looks  
suspect).

May be this would be better to at least display a message to tell the user  
why this need admin account when there is really no other way.


-- 
Si les chats miaulent et font autant de vocalises bizarres, c’est pas pour  
les chiens.

“I am fluent in ASCII” [Warren 2010]

Re: GNAT version for Ada training?

[Randy Brukardt]

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"Yannick Duch�ne (Hibou57)" <yannick_duchene@yahoo.fr> wrote in message 
news:op.vqkj61qcule2fv@garhos...
Le Mon, 07 Feb 2011 23:28:17 +0100, Randy Brukardt <randy@rrsoftware.com>
a �crit:
>> Windows tries hard to discourage installation of any program without
>> administrator permissions, especially on Windows XP and more recent. Any
>> program that needs to modify the registry is going to have problems -
>There are plenty of useful things which can already be done with 
>HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Writing to this one, does not requires administrative 
>rights.

Right, but that doesn't include registering programs, help files, and 
extensions. It's pretty hard to write a good Windows program without doing 
those things.

>> and
>> "good" Windows programs will write various things into the registry.
>The quotes was welcome, as as-the time goes, more people enjoy 
>configuration in files instead of the registry: drop-and-run, the same it 
>is possible with MacOS. The application reside in its own directory, and 
>mostly write only there, optionally in Application Data, except the 
>documents it generates.

Janus/Ada used to be that way, but people can't figure it out. These days, 
they expect do-everything installers. I'd surely prefer to spend my time on 
other things, but you can't claim customers are always wrong and expect to 
have any customers...

>May be this would be better to at least display a message to tell the user 
>why this need admin account when there is really no other way.

This is detailed in the installation documentation. I doubt anyone ever 
reads that (you could be the first :-), but we still send it...

                        Randy.