From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,daaf4964abae8ea7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-08-23 10:15:02 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!psinet-eu-nl!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Ada And Alternate System Architectures Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 13:09:41 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: <9m3dcp$9vk$1@nh.pace.co.uk> References: <3B8528F1.7B664D21@lmtas.lmco.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-133.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 998586585 10228 136.170.200.133 (23 Aug 2001 17:09:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 23 Aug 2001 17:09:45 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:12344 Date: 2001-08-23T17:09:45+00:00 List-Id: Ada bends over backwards to avoid specifying anything that would make it impossible or impractical to implement Ada on just about any platform. For example, Ada specifies Streams which will most often be implemented as 8-bit bytes, but the element type is defined in terms of some system defined storage unit - so it could be 16-bit words or anything else you like. Similarly, the standard integer types have a minimum range required. For example, ARM 3.5.4(21) says: 21 In an implementation, the range of Integer shall include the range -2**15+1 .. +2**15-1. That would suggest at least 16 bits - but it could be (and often is) 32 bits. On a PDP-10 it might be 36 bits. Ada does exist on processors that aren't 8-bit byte machines. The Mil-Std-1750a comes immediately to mind. 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/ "Gary Scott" wrote in message news:3B8528F1.7B664D21@lmtas.lmco.com... > Hi, > > A very naive question...does the Ada standard adequately address > non-8-bit byte computers? The Fortran language standard committee > consistently avoids defining anything that relates to a specific > computer architecture implementation (because what if 6-bit character > systems one day become common again...). At a very high level, how are > machine specifics addressed?