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From: eachus@spectre.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Subject: Re: What ada 83 compiler is *best*
Date: 1998/12/10
Message-ID: <EACHUS.98Dec10113707@spectre.mitre.org>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 420847292
References: <to.reply-0312980902120001@129.197.97.40>
 <3666F5A4.2CCF6592@maths.unine.ch> <EACHUS.98Dec8163253@spectre.mitre.org>
 <1998Dec8.174032.1@eisner> <74kuja$72s$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
 <1998Dec9.092835.1@eisner>
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1998-12-10T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

In article <1998Dec9.092835.1@eisner> kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen) writes:

   >> I have yet to find supported Ada95 compilers for:

   >> 	MVS		Popular, Currently available
   >> 	OS400		Popular, Currently available
   >> 	HP-MPE		Currently available
   >> 	VAX/VMS		Popular, Currently available
   >> 	Macintosh 68K	Popular
   >> 	Alpha NT	Currently available

   >> Giving Ada95 an answer of "Yes" for question 1 seems
   > dubious to me.

  > I do not disagree about the extent to which a lack of compilers
  > affects Ada popularity.  I do not disagree that lack of Ada 95 usage
  > affects the availability of compilers.  The statement with which I
  > was disagreeing was that Ada95 was available on "all popular and
  > currently available" operating systems.  Ada advocacy should be
  > tempered by accuracy so as to distinguish it from the rest of the
  > computer industry. :-)

   Short answer--I disagree completely with your characterization of
any of these products with the possible exception of MVS, as popular
and currently available.  Perhaps the right characterization is "once
popular, still somewhat available."

   Of course, with the possible exception of OS400, there were several
validated Ada 83 compilers for every machine on your list.  In fact I
am supporting projects that use several of them.  The reality is that
for something like VAX/VMS, there is no great pressure to switch
existing Ada 83 code to Ada 95, but there is a need to maintain the
existing base.  So there is a continued demand for Ada 83 on the VAX,
but no visible Ada 95 demand.  New VMS starts use Alphas.

   And since I mentioned Alphas, Alpha NT is a very special case.
There are good Alpha VMS compilers, and there are good x86 NT
compilers, in many cases versions of the same compiler, so a port
would be trivial.  In fact I believe GNAT actually had such a version
at one point.   Is the lack of demand for that product due to a lack
of demand for NT on Alpha, or due to a lack of demand for Ada 95?  My
best guess is that most Alpha NT machines are used as servers for NT
networks where the desktop machines are Pentium, etc., based.  So the
Ada compilers on those servers are actually run on and targeted to the
desktop.
--

					Robert I. Eachus

with Standard_Disclaimer;
use  Standard_Disclaimer;
function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...