Re: IBM Acquires Rational Ada

[Christopher Browne <cbbrowne@acm.org>]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, nma124@hotmail.com (steve_H) wrote:
> If it were not for gcc, we probably would not have linux nor apache
> nor 99.99% of the open system products out there. If gcc could do
> Ada long time ago, then may be apache would have been written in Ada
> instead of C? at least that would have been an option.

That seems totally unlikely.

We might not have Linux without GCC, but we almost certainly would
have Apache, because Unix platforms virtually always come with a C
compiler.  Most of the GNU "toolchain" existed for years before Linux
came along.

And actually, while it is unlikely that "Linux" would be without GCC,
it is fairly likely that the "desire for a free Unix" would have been
satisfied as a result of some combination of the BSD codebase along
with either some port of PCC, the TENDRA C compiler suite, or perhaps
LCC.

At the time, there was zero likelihood of Ada being a plausible
alternative.  The nearest alternative might have been one of the Wirth
languages, whether Modula 2 or Modula 3 or Oberon.  But in the
community of "Unix folk" that were building things like the GNU tools
and HTTPD, the language of choice was C, and if GCC had not been
available, one of the other C compiler alternatives would surely have
been chosen.
-- 
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