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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,936b98ceff0d9f3e X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-02-04 07:25:41 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.cwix.com!news.binc.net!kilgallen From: Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: RE: One language environment don't have future Date: 4 Feb 2003 09:25:37 -0600 Organization: LJK Software Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: eisner.encompasserve.org X-Trace: grandcanyon.binc.net 1044372303 1418 192.135.80.34 (4 Feb 2003 15:25:03 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@binc.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 15:25:03 +0000 (UTC) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:33771 Date: 2003-02-04T09:25:37-06:00 List-Id: In article , "Beard, Frank Randolph CIV" writes: > I think he's talking about the development environment and not the = > language. > Sort of like what DEC did with their systems. If memory serves me = > correctly, > every language (Fortran, C, Pascal, Ada, ...) compiled to an = > intermediate > language. Their debugger looked and worked the same no matter which one = > you > were using. So, when you switched languages, all you really had to = > learn > was the new language. While VMS has a common debugger, it is the object language (from which executable programs are linked) that is guaranteed standardized. The intermediate language within a compiler can be anything the compiler author chooses. On VAX there were many code generators although some language front ends had code generators from the same heritage (and thus a common intermediate language). On Alpha, DEC built a single code generator (GEM) to which their various front ends were adapted. On Itanium, the first compiler effort for most languages is based on an Itanium-targeted GEM, but Intel will later release a VMS C compiler using the Intel backend for Itanium. The VMS debugger has a SET LANGUAGE command so that expressions can be entered in a form "native" to the programming language. That gets set automatically if the programmer does nothing, but a programmer who has stopped at a breakpoint in a Macro or Bliss routine might want to have their expressions evaluated in Ada or Fortran style. Currently the GNAT compiler for Alpha VMS uses the GDB debugger rather than the standard VMS debugger (at DEC's insistance when they signed the contract to have GNAT ported). There have been customer complaints to VMS Development about that, and responses have been at least that having GNAT use the regular VMS debugger on Itanium is "under consideration". In DEC parlance that likely means "not a p0" (priority). Doing that on Itanium might be easier for the GNAT developers since Itanium VMS uses ELF and DWARF rather than a traditional VMS object format and DST records.