Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[Warren W. Gay VE3WWG]

William Dale wrote:

> Exactly my point at the SGIAda 2000.  Get the "Hobbyists" involved!
> I presented a view of Ham Radio software as a platform for Ada
> development that covers a wide set of domains - logging, digital/packet,
> satellite communications - and many more.

I missed all that excitement (SIGAda) but I am glad to hear of the "plugs".

> Linux is a good platform for much of this and lots of Ham S/W is already
> available.
>
> Look for more on this after the first of the year.

Bravo N2RHV.

73

> N2RHV - EC Milpitas
> http://www.qsl.net/mares
> mailto:n2rhv@arrl.net
>
> "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:
> >
> > /dev/null wrote:
> >
> > > In article <k6im2t05ril3fradvsp7uplrv6h7k36coi@4ax.com>,
> > > JM  <jmillard1@homey.remove_y_.com> wrote:
> > >  >
> > >  > Does anyone believe Ada will become more popular in the future?
> > > ...snip...
> > > The most common class of security bugs in software being exploited
> > > today is buffer overflows.  Buffer overflows are very common in
> > > C/C++, uncommon in Ada, Eiffel, etc.
> > >
> > > Eventually one of those holes is going to be exploited in such a
> > > way as to bring down a major bank or stock exchange.  Once a bug
> > > threatens the nation's economy, Congress will act swiftly to track
> > > down and outlaw the causes.  If somebody convinces Congress, say
> > > Peter Neumann of comp.risks fame, that eliminating C/C++ would
> > > solve most buffer overflows, C/C++ will be out the door faster than
> > > you can say C ...SNIP...
> >
> > I don't think that scenario is very likely..   What is needed, is
> > more exposure to Open Source developers in general... i.e. more useful
> > projects for Linux/FreeBSD/whatever
> > that people need/want, written in Ada95. This will:
> >
> > 1. Require that people have the Ada95 (GNAT) _installed_ on their machine
> >     (if they want to compile the project).
> > 2. The GNAT RPM's are making this easier for this to happen, especially
> >     for the non-Ada aware.
> > 3. People will start tinkering with Ada95, when they want to make changes
> >     to the same said project(s)
> > 4. More Linux/FreeBSD distributions will start including Ada95 as a ready
> >     to go option (or included as a standard offering).
> > 5. People will start to see the advantages of Ada95 as they tinker
> > 6. More people get to know the language..
> > 7. You start to see more books on the subject of Ada (giving it more
> >     credibility, and adding to the curiosity factor)
> > 8. More Ada95 projects will follow?
> >
> > If people start contributing solid applications written in Ada95, without the
> > buffer exploits and other risks, then perhaps others will take notice.  Until
> > then, die-hard C/C++/Java fans, will likely stick to what they already know
> > and love.
> >
> > If I was to be bold, I would start by suggesting people do Ada95 re-writes
> > of the many _SERVERS_ that have exploits published for them every week.
> > I hate trusting my host to the wild Internet, knowing about all these
> > exploits sitting there. I plan to contribute in this area myself.
> >
> > --
> > Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
> > http://members.home.net/ve3wwg

--
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://members.home.net/ve3wwg

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[Steve O'Neill]

> William Dale wrote:
>
> > Exactly my point at the SGIAda 2000.  Get the "Hobbyists" involved!
>

Do I see a BattleBot in the making...? :)

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[Bobby D. Bryant]

"Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:

> 4. More Linux/FreeBSD distributions will start including Ada95 as a ready
>     to go option (or included as a standard offering).

I notice at
ftp://linux.inrialpes.fr/linux/redhat/redhat-7.0/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/
that both GNAT and GtkAda are already included on Red Hat's "Powertools" CD for
v. 7.0.

Also, I keep hearing that GNAT will be fully integrated into gcc v. 3.0, which
if correct would mean that virtually all users of GNU development software would
have an Ada compiler on their system whether they thought they wanted one or
not.  See e.g. http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc/2000-04/msg00703.html for some debate
that was going on back in April, or
http://isisesc.supelec.fr/list-egcs/archive/October2000/0201.html for a more
recent discussion.

Bobby Bryant
Austin, Texas

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[Warren W. Gay VE3WWG]

"Bobby D. Bryant" wrote:

> "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:
>
> > 4. More Linux/FreeBSD distributions will start including Ada95 as a ready
> >     to go option (or included as a standard offering).
>
> I notice at
> ftp://linux.inrialpes.fr/linux/redhat/redhat-7.0/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/
> that both GNAT and GtkAda are already included on Red Hat's "Powertools" CD for
> v. 7.0.

Yes, and glad to see that too.

--
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://members.home.net/ve3wwg

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <915qs9$aai1@news.cis.okstate.edu>, dvdeug@x8b4e516e.dhcp.okstate.edu (David Starner) writes:
> On Tue, 12 Dec 2000 00:03:05 -0600, Bobby D. Bryant wrote:
>>> 4. More Linux/FreeBSD distributions will start including Ada95 as a ready
>>>     to go option (or included as a standard offering).
>>
>>I notice at
>>ftp://linux.inrialpes.fr/linux/redhat/redhat-7.0/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/
>>that both GNAT and GtkAda are already included on Red Hat's "Powertools" CD for
>>v. 7.0.
> 
> It's also been included in Debian for years. 

I thought it was only in the Debian Intel x86 release.
Supposedly Debian also runs on:

		Alpha 
		ARM 
		Motorola 680x0 
		PowerPC 
		SPARC

Re: Ada to Boldly Go... (Was: Status of Ada??)

[William Starner]

Larry Kilgallen wrote:
> 
> In article <915qs9$aai1@news.cis.okstate.edu>, dvdeug@x8b4e516e.dhcp.okstate.edu (David Starner) writes:
> > On Tue, 12 Dec 2000 00:03:05 -0600, Bobby D. Bryant wrote:
> >>> 4. More Linux/FreeBSD distributions will start including Ada95 as a ready
> >>>     to go option (or included as a standard offering).
> >>
> >>I notice at
> >>ftp://linux.inrialpes.fr/linux/redhat/redhat-7.0/powertools/i386/RedHat/RPMS/
> >>that both GNAT and GtkAda are already included on Red Hat's "Powertools" CD for
> >>v. 7.0.
> >
> > It's also been included in Debian for years.
> 
> I thought it was only in the Debian Intel x86 release.
> Supposedly Debian also runs on:
> 
>                 Alpha
>                 ARM
>                 Motorola 680x0
>                 PowerPC
>                 SPARC

And some other unreleased stuff (Hurd/i386, PA-RISC, etc.), yes. 

GNAT is included in Debian in every architecture that it has been ported to -
i.e. we currently support i386, SPARC, and PowerPC(?). The GNAT maintainer is in
fact working from a SPARC machine. One of the Alpha guys has volunteered to port
GNAT to Alpha/Linux when he gets boxes running DEC Alpha in Janurary. We're more
than willing to include GNAT on any architecture that it will build on.

-- 
David Starner - dvdeug@hushmail.com (dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org off vacation)