Re: Ada Advocacy - WPG (Web Page Generation) scheme

["Nick Roberts" <nickroberts@blueyonder.co.uk>]

"Stephane Richard" <stephane.richard@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:WOGfb.22559$kD3.8829@nwrdny03.gnilink.net...

> Hey that sounds like it could make sense to me.

Thank you!

> Would we need to compile it into an ada program after?

Yes, that is what I imagined. I think the most typical scenario is that the
generated Ada source files would be uploaded to the (web hosting) server
machine, and then compiled (probably with GNAT) there. The resulting
executable binaries would be put into the "cgi-bin" directory, so that they
would be executed (by the web server program) when the corresponding web
pages were rewuested.

> Dare I say "AdaScript" or something like it?

I want to get away from scripting, really, since there are any number of
existing scripting languages. I think it would be easier and better to
leverage GNAT and the power of a fully compiled language.

> With AWS as Server

AWS did come into my mind certainly. In that scenario, it would be possible
to compile the web page generator procedure right into the web server
(rather than have it run as a separate CGI program). This could be the
ultimate 'power solution' in some cases. (Hehe ;-)

> Or are you talking about using Ada much like PHP as in
> make it usable with Apache or other server technologies
> like that one and not confine it to Ada.

Yes, I was thinking of generating standard (in inverted commas) CGI
programs, for use with web server programs that support CGI (including
Apache). But not like PHP, which is interpreted. The programs generated
would be compiled to be native code binary programs.

> Web Server usage only?

One of the neat things about CGI programs is that you can easily run them
'standalone' to test them. Also, the
generated Ada procedures could be compiled into a bigger Ada program or
library, rather than being compiled into a self-contained program. This
bigger program could be a FastCGI program, or a complete web server (a la
AWS), or something completely different (dons wetsuit ;-)

--
Nick Roberts
Jabber: debater@charente.de [ICQ: 159718630]