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: 109fba,304c86061dc69dba X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,5cb36983754f64da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-02-12 09:37:32 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!crtntx1-snh1.gtei.net!news.gtei.net!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!border1.nntp.sjc.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local1.nntp.sjc.giganews.com!nntp.adelphia.com!news.adelphia.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 11:37:27 -0600 From: Jerry Coffin Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++ Subject: Re: No call for Ada (was Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language) Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2004 10:44:17 -0700 Message-ID: References: <20040206174017.7E84F4C4114@lovelace.ada-france.org> <54759e7e.0402071124.322ea376@posting.google.com> <2460735.u7KiuvdgQP@linux1.krischik.com> <54759e7e.0402081525.50c7adae@posting.google.com> Organization: TAEUS X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.50 NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.64.173.106 X-Trace: sv3-5tdFs4CidSK2bC7EtSd0/Ay55hfPz7iPWH1OSUAXKaNYRPTnuIvoP+v8KUeB2W3mXYvL7clJibCQaN0!vT+JThlleBM74IaTWweVDa9OmzMH/KXN+5S6gAfH5ozwDmwmYqpVrkUEtibdC0n6aVj3z3OXOoEw!GfoANsvoT12RGpOcYd7PPd0= X-Complaints-To: abuse@adelphia.com X-DMCA-Complaints-To: abuse@adelphia.com X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:5491 comp.lang.c++:18920 Date: 2004-02-12T10:44:17-07:00 List-Id: In article , crmeiners@hotmail.com says... > > "Jerry Coffin" wrote in message > > If a particular target is so obscure that it truly leaves to > > the vagaries of a particular vendor (i.e. there's only one C compiler > > for it) then there's basically no chance of finding even one Ada > > compiler for the platform. As such, Ada is useless relative to that > > platform, regardless of how much merit it might have in theory. > > Not exactly true. There exist Ada to ANSI C compilers so you can make use > of Ada's compile time benefits for such platforms. Also rarely true -- for better or worse, the "ANSI C" compilers on many obscure (especially embedded) systems are "ANSI C" only by courtesy -- they're generally enough like C that it's easy for a reasonably experienced programmer to learn and live with their restrictions, but unless the translator in question uses quite a restricted portion of C, there's still a pretty good chance that what it produces won't be accepted by the "C compiler" in question. In many cases, the editing that would be involved to make it work would theoretically be pretty trivial. Unfortunately, that fact that it's machine-generated code prevents almost anything from being trivial -- such code is usually opaque in the extreme. Worse, this route places even higher demands on the programmers: they have to know Ada to write the original code, AND they have to know C to edit the output of the translator. Worse, the problems involved are often in relatively obscure corners of the language that few programmers would ever delve into, so they can't just be reasonably good C programmers either: they have to be exceptionally knowledgeable and well-informed ones. The bottom line is that an Ada to C translator could be useful under some circumstances, but in the situation that was being described, it's likely to be far more of a problem than a solution. -- Later, Jerry. The universe is a figment of its own imagination.