From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.5 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_05 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 29 Apr 93 14:57:38 GMT From: world!srctran@uunet.uu.net (Gregory Aharonian) Subject: Re: Incorporating 9X into Ada courses Message-ID: List-Id: >Compiler problems have plagued Ada since at least 1984, when our group >used to measure compile time in fractions of a day. We used the now >infamous ALS on a VAX 780. But as Paulkovich points out in the May/June >Ada Letters, C/C++ compilers will always be smaller and cheaper because >they do so much less. I have not seen Paulkovich's article, but I must disagree, having used many Ada compilers and many C/C++ compilers. The current C/C++ compiler systems probably offer more capability than any Ada system. Not only do they have better optimizations and compile speeds, but in areas like type checking across modules, which Ada does naturally, most compilers now also do (assuming you use #include files with procedural declaration). Things Ada also do naturally (like tasking) are more than amply handled with a variety of C/C++ object libraries that allows people to pick and choose the tasking style they want, instead of one fixed approach blasted into the language. Recently, C/C++ compilers have been including library browsers and other neat CASE features, all for the same price. And the interfaces to most C/C++ compilers, especially unders Windows, are more user friendly than the Ada compilers. The reason that Ada compilers cost more is simply because the Ada compiler vendors have a captive market and can charge more simply because there is no competition for them. The Ada Mandate is a gross market distortion that allows these inflated prices to continue. Remove the Mandate and two things will happen: first, the Ada vendors will have to drastically lower their prices to be competitive with the C/C++ vendors. Second, since the vendors are used to competition within the defense world, between competition with C/C++ vendors and loss of sales to DoD projects now using C/C++, most of the vendors will go out of the Ada business. The vendors have used every excuse in the book to explain away the fact why their prices are so high compared to industry standards, except for the reason that neither Ada nor their compilers are competitive. Just look how people are spending their own money. Greg Aharonian -- ************************************************************************** Greg Aharonian Source Translation & Optimiztion P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178