Re: Creating tempfile takes too long: GNAT or Windows bug? (& GtkAda)

["Marin David Condic" <mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org>]

Warren W. Gay VE3WWG <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:3DA5B8E6.3010109@cogeco.ca...
>
> So to summarize: I was in a hurry, and MS VC was available,
> and MFC is/was easy for a simple input GUI form (it accepts
> multiple wildcard pathnames, and the # of days to retain
> files before deleting them).
>
My point is that this is a *perfectly* legitimate argument and one that is
made every day in businesses that build software. "I've got to get it out
the door in a hurry (because profit depends on getting there first - not
getting there in Ada) and MSVC (or insert your favorite language, IDE,
library) gets me there more quickly than I can with Ada..."

Its not that Ada is somehow or other inherently slow in development. I think
its capable of being significantly faster - especially if one considers test
and debug time to be part of "development". Its just that when some other
language offers massive libraries of reasonably reliable stuff and
reasonably spiffy tools to slap an application together quickly, its hard to
compete if all you've got is a descent language and the argument that you
can always bind to all that spiffy stuff you bought with the other language.
(Why have two languages?) If there was an equivalent MSVAda with an MFC-Ada
and all that other cool stuff sitting on you're computer right next to the
MSVC package, you'd probably have done the hack in Ada, right?

I don't know how Ada as a language and/or user community can get something
vaguely resembling a large class library and/or a spiffy development
environment (although GPS may hold some promise) but I think its a key
ingredient. I've seen, and been part of, efforts in the past to develop
libraries and I might be willing to do so again. The hard part is getting
proper acceptance and the proper forum for the project so that it actually
gets done and actually gets used.

MDC
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Marin David Condic
I work for: http://www.belcan.com/
My project is: http://www.jast.mil/

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        --  Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10]
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