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: 103376,38159b1b5557a2e7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-01-27 19:21:18 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!priapus.visi.com!orange.octanews.net!news.octanews.net!green.octanews.net!news-out.octanews.net!news-xfer.cox.net!peer01.cox.net!cox.net!cyclone1.gnilink.net!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!attbi_s54.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Jeff C," Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <100upo7ln5e3k59@corp.supernews.com> <400FC8E8.2040100@noplace.com><_JSdna166JuxFo3dRVn-hg@comcast.com> <401115B7.5020205@noplace.com> Subject: Re: Standard Ada Preprocessor X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.147.74.171 X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-Trace: attbi_s54 1075260077 24.147.74.171 (Wed, 28 Jan 2004 03:21:17 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 03:21:17 GMT Organization: Comcast Online Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2004 03:21:17 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4974 Date: 2004-01-28T03:21:17+00:00 List-Id: "Stephen Leake" wrote in message news:mailman.46.1075258237.2270.comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org... > David Starner writes: > > > > There are two GCC frontends in risk of being dropped in the GCC 3.5 > > release because of large structural changes; Fortran 77, which has > > no active maintainers, and Ada. The cumulative effect is that GNAT > > is effectively unsupported, where most of the other compilers > > (Fortran 77 excepted) are casually supported. > > I don't know where you get your information; ACT says otherwise. They > are making it a high priority to keep the Ada in the gcc distribution > working and up-to-date. Not as high a priority as satisfying paying > customers, of course. But they see a good Free Software Ada compiler > as excellent advertising for their services. In the past, they have > released public versions of GNAT, usually based on slightly old > versions of gcc. Now, they are trying to keep up with the current gcc > versions, since they see that as even better advertising. > Actually, he probably gets his information from the gcc mailing list. It is indeed true that there is a chance (probably a good chance) that there will be no Ada front end in gcc 3.5 (which may actually be gcc 4.0...but that is a different matter). That is not to say that Ada would not re-appear in 3.5.1 or 4.1. The issue is that gcc is getting ready to fold in a major infrastructure change that requires some heavy modification to the front ends. This is a major upgrade to the compiler and currently creates a compiler that runs a little slower but produces code that runs a little faster. The reason that it is still a "good thing" is that in theory it will be easier to roll in new optimizations into the compiler and actually make it much better in the future. Even the Ada maintainers on the gcc mailing list have indicated that Ada support should not be a show stopper for a 3.5 or 4.0 release. They have also indicated that they would likely roll in the needed changes at some point but that it is not a high priority. So things are not as bad as they sound but certainly not as good as they could be.