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-Thread: 103376,21960280f1d61e84 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news2.google.com!news3.google.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!wns13feed!worldnet.att.net!attbi_s22.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "Jeffrey R. Carter" User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 (Windows/20061207) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: GC in Ada References: <1169636785.504223.139630@j27g2000cwj.googlegroups.com> <45b8361a_5@news.bluewin.ch> <3pejpgfbki.fsf@hod.lan.m-e-leypold.de> <45c99c24$1@news.post.ch> <45c9bdb8$1@news.post.ch> <45CF34A7.5090908@obry.net> <45D207B3.2080101@obry.net> In-Reply-To: <45D207B3.2080101@obry.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.201.97.213 X-Complaints-To: abuse@mchsi.com X-Trace: attbi_s22 1171408120 12.201.97.213 (Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:08:40 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:08:40 GMT Organization: AT&T ASP.att.net Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:08:40 GMT Xref: g2news2.google.com comp.lang.ada:9309 Date: 2007-02-13T23:08:40+00:00 List-Id: Pascal Obry wrote: > > I've used it... log time ago and IIRC it was using a kind of p-code a-la > Pascal. This is just a kind of virtual machine to me... I guess it's a matter of semantics. If the program reads the source and performs the actions required by it, I consider it an interpreter. What activities it uses internally to perform that interpretation are an elephant. If the program converts the source into another form which can later be executed by appropriate HW or an emulator, then I call it a compiler. UCSD Pascal had a Pascal-to-P-code compiler. The P-code could be executed later, on a P-code machine or, more commonly, through an emulator. (I'm not aware of there ever being a P-code machine, which is why it's often referred to as a virtual machine. But there's no reason there couldn't have been one.) Java works similarly. My understanding is that Ada-Ed was in the former category. -- Jeff Carter "C++ is like giving an AK-47 to a monk, shooting him full of crack and letting him loose in a mall and expecting him to balance your checking account 'when he has the time.'" Drew Olbrich 52