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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,8623fab5750cd6aa X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!01cc3b7c!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Richard Riehle" From: "Richard Riehle" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <40b9c99e$0$268$edfadb0f@dread16.news.tele.dk> <40ba315a$0$254$edfadb0f@dread16.news.tele.dk> <04udnR-eHNChzSbdRVn-vw@gbronline.com> <7J0xc.7371$8k4.269106@news20.bellglobal.com> <1086630278.542788@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> Subject: Re: Improving Ada's image - Was: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 23:45:38 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.218.201 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net 1086824738 66.81.218.201 (Wed, 09 Jun 2004 16:45:38 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 16:45:38 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:1340 Date: 2004-06-09T23:45:38+00:00 List-Id: "Hyman Rosen" wrote in message news:1086630278.542788@master.nyc.kbcfp.com... > > In absolute terms. Linux systems, as well as BSD systems which > are also written in C, stay up for long periods of time and work > as they are supposed to. Various pieces are always being reworked > and enhanced, apparently without much difficulty. There is no reason why someone could not write an OS in Ada. There is some reason to wonder whether this would be a good use of programmer resources given the current state of the market for Operating Systems. C and C++ can be, and have been, used with comparitively good success in writing Operating Systems. Expert programmers can do good work in nearly any language, even Ada, Eiffel, D, Forth, Pascal, Assembler, or [your favorite goes here]. The operating systems written in C or C++ are well-known to be vulnerable to security violations, some of which are directly related to features of the languages in which they are written. Those identical violations would be impossible for an OS written in Ada. On the other hand, one cannot predict what vulnerabilities would be discovered for an OS written in Ada. I have no doubt there would be some vulnerabilities. Would they be as severe as those in OS's written in the C family of languages? No one can answer that for certain. I happen to prefer Ada over C++ for most things. The more time I spend with C++ (alas, I am forced to do so part of the time) the more I dislike it. This is a personal preference, but one derived from experience. Ada too has features I dislike, but not as many of them as C++. So far, I have not discovered the perfect (or even the ideal) programming language that fits every situation. I don't expect to during my few remaining years as a carbon-based, oxygen breathing organism. Richard Riehle