Re: GCC 3.1 with GNAT ... Cool!

["Jeffrey D. Cherry" <yrrehcdj@hcetu.ten>]

achrist@easystreet.com wrote in news:3D1166A3.4C62DDA8@easystreet.com:

> Some questions:
> 
> 1. Did you download binaries or source for all of this? (URL's?)

I downloaded the source from the GNU ftp site, including the composite tar-
gzip file and all the individualt tar-gzip files for version 3.1.  These 
files can be found at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/gcc/gcc-3.1; however, shortly 
after I had done downloaded these files, there was an announcement on CLA 
that MinGW had created a binary distribution of GCC 3.1.  Following the 
announcement's suggestion, I went to SourceForge (http://sourceforge.net), 
found the MinGW project's page (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw) and 
downloaded the following files:
   MinGW-1.1.tar.gz
   bunutils-2_12_90-20020518-1.tar.gz
   binutils-2_12_90-info-html.tar.gz
   gcc-3_1-core-20020516-1.tar.gz
   gcc-3_1-Ada-20020516-1.tar.gz
   gcc-3_1-info-html.tar.gz
   gcc-3_1-release_notes.txt
   libmingwex.a
   libstdc++-html-USERS-3.1.tar.gz
   make-3.79.1-20010722.tar.gz
   mingw-runtime-2.0-20020430.tar.gz
   w32api-1.4-2.tar.gz

To download these files starting from the aforementioned MinGW project page, 
(1) click on the "download" link for any of the listed packages and this will 
bring you to the file list page for the project, (2) from there, click on the 
desired file name and that will lead you to a page where you can select the 
server from which the download will be performed, (3) click on the server 
nearest your location and the download will begin, (4) return to the "file 
list page" and repeat this process for each file desired.

I found out later that the libmingwex.a file was unnecessary if I installed 
the MinGW 2.0 runtime and the make-3.79.1-20010722.tar.gz file was also 
unnecessary since it was included in the MinGW 1.1 distribution.  Since this 
initial download, the Win32 API has been updated to version 1.5 and so I 
would suggest getting the latest (w32api-1.5.tar.gz).

If you are interested in the Pascal compiler, then I suggest going to the 
home site for GNU Pascal (http://www.gnu-pascal.de) and downloading the 
Pascal compiler component from there.  

> 
> 2. Are there step-by-step directions for setting all this up available 
> anywhere on-line?  (URL?) (If students can do this, there must be
> step-by-step directions somewhere, right?)

The associated documentation for each component describes the installation 
process for that particular component.  Generally, you extract the files in 
the tar-gzip file into a common directory tree on your hard disk.  Some 
components require environment variables (such as the Ada component of the 
GCC).  A previous post on CLA listed the steps to get the MinGW installation 
up and running and they worked for me.

For distribution to students, I burn a CD (the student provided the CD) with 
a rather large set of files, all of which are freely available from the 
Internet.  One set of files is the GNAT 3.14p distribution, another set is 
the GCC 3.1 distribution from the MinGW project.  Typically, I add a command 
(batch) file that performs most, if not all, of the installation steps.  I 
also provide a text file in the root directory of the CD that describes a 
manual installation, so your assumption regading "step-by-step directions" is 
correct.  If you, or someone else, requests a copy of the steps I used, then 
I'll post them to CLA.

Please note that the GNU Pascal compiler has its own installation program 
similar to most software products that run under Windows.  The GNU Pascal 
installation will make some small changes to the registry and also requies an 
environment variable.  Installing libraries (such as the CRT unit) requies 
downloading the extra files and compiling them.  Some additional copying of 
certain files to other installation directories will also be necessary.

> 
> 3. If there aren't step-by-step directions, wouldn't it be nice if there
> were?  If there aren't, I'd be willing to try to write some if you or 
> someone can point me toward what it takes to make it all happen.

It's always nice to have "step-by-step directions" and I can provide a text 
description of the steps I used if requested (as I mentioned in passing in 
the response to point number 2 above).  Generally, I find the documentation 
of the GCC components very well done and the GNAT documentation is 
particularly good.  The GNAT compiler also has about the best error and 
warning messages I've ever seen from a compiler (and I've used quite a few in 
my time, nearly 20 years of reviewing safety-critical software running on a 
variety of different platforms).  

The descriptive error messages are one thing that makes the GNAT compiler an 
_excellent_ compiler for students.  I've also found that first-time 
programming students pick up Ada much faster than C, C++, FORTRAN, or Java.  
At our school, students typically start with Ada, and then may also learn 
C++, FORTRAN, or Java in later classes.  This seems to work well since Ada 
provides them with good fundamentals in software development, is very 
readable, and the student-friendly messages from the GNAT compiler is icing 
on the cake.  

-- 
Regards,
Jeffrey D. Cherry
Senior IV&V Analyst
Northrop Grumman Information Technology