Re: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@comcast.net>]

Richard Riehle wrote:

> BTW, the first Alsys Ada compiler was, if I recall correctly,
> written in PL/I.   Ada was, and always has been, a far better
> language than PL/I, but PL/I could have been improved with
> a little effort and cooperation from IBM.   However, PL/I,
> at that time, had already earned a widespread bad reputation,
> much as Ada has today.   Overcoming a bad reputation for
> a language is almost impossible, even when the language
> has improved as much as contemporary Ada.

Um, Honeywell delivered a prototype Green compiler to the DoD as part of 
the "fly off" between Red and Green.  Also Honeywell Small Systems--or 
whatever the division was called that week--developed an Ada cross 
compiler that ran on Multics, and was written in PL/I, and targeted the 
Level 6/DPS 6 line of minicomputers.  (I worked on that project for 
several years, mostly on the front-end.)

AFAIK though, the first Alsys compiler was written in Ada.  At one point 
was compiled with the DEC Ada compiler.  Why?  Why not?  It saved some 
time in bootstraping, and eventually, like GNAT it was self-hosting with 
multiple potential target architectures.

-- 

                                           Robert I. Eachus

"The terrorists rejoice in the killing of the innocent, and have 
promised similar violence against Americans, against all free peoples, 
and against any Muslims who reject their ideology of murder. Their 
barbarism cannot be appeased, and their hatred cannot be satisfied. 
There's only one way to deal with terror: We must confront the enemy and 
stay on the offensive until these killers are defeated." -- George W. Bush