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=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 2002:a02:560b:: with SMTP id o11-v6mr1580974jab.7.1529715808982; Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:03:28 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:a9d:63d4:: with SMTP id e20-v6mr261575otl.5.1529715808844; Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:03:28 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.linkpendium.com!news.linkpendium.com!news.snarked.org!border2.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!d7-v6no1299964itj.0!news-out.google.com!z3-v6ni1452iti.0!nntp.google.com!u78-v6no1291854itb.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:03:28 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <145294063.551401932.678101.laguest-archeia.com@nntp.aioe.org> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=47.185.195.62; posting-account=zwxLlwoAAAChLBU7oraRzNDnqQYkYbpo NNTP-Posting-Host: 47.185.195.62 References: <584564c2-9f64-4965-b045-535cdaf899c0@googlegroups.com> <7cb22c58-3009-47f0-8fe7-62f3cd61785d@googlegroups.com> <52b14af1-ee0a-40af-871a-beeced6bce1c@googlegroups.com> <87wour97a8.fsf@nightsong.com> <98aac007-7512-4ae3-94de-f02e7e2651ae@googlegroups.com> <87k1qr8oyz.fsf@nightsong.com> <8e8e7ce9-d7ac-4ec5-8278-7b93cec46599@googlegroups.com> <145294063.551401932.678101.laguest-archeia.com@nntp.aioe.org> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: Why are Ada compilers difficult to write ? From: "Dan'l Miller" Injection-Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2018 01:03:28 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: reader02.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:53263 Date: 2018-06-22T18:03:28-07:00 List-Id: On Friday, June 22, 2018 at 6:15:45 PM UTC-5, Luke A. Guest wrote: > Dan'l Miller <> wrote: >=20 > > Writing a compiler in OP refers to both=20 >=20 > OP??? the original posting of this thread; the original poster's posting that sta= rted this thread > > writing it from scratch as well as maintenance over the years. All of > > the Ada compilers listed on that antiquated page are in various stages = of > > broken links, out of business, and no longer supporting Z80 in recent = =E2=80=A2decades=E2=80=A2. > >=20 >=20 > Well, the Z80 is no longer supported, you can at least still buy them. I > have one sitting in my desk ready to be put into a retroputer. Which is a little ironic that antiquated hot slow limited-RAM power-slurpin= g hardware at the heart of the CP/M era and the Timex/Sinclair era outlived= the Ada-compiler software of the same era. Who would've predicted that? = Thus demonstrating once again: bit-rot in software is real. Speaking of retrocomputers, there was a point many years ago at which Zilog= notified its customers of the Z8000 (the 16-bit version of the Z80) of the= last-time buy manufacturing run. I once worked for the telecom company th= at was one of those Z8000 customers who received that last-time-buy notice.= They sent a quite official response, in person to Zilog's C-level executi= ves, I think: hey Zilog, speaking of last-time-buy for the Z8000, we assum= e that this is the last-time-buy for the masks too. We'd like to buy the Z= 8000 masks & all related fab data to manufacture Z8000s ourselves hencefort= h. =E2=80=A6 And that is how the Air Force started buying Z8000s during the 19= 90s from that telecom equipment manufacturer instead of from Zilog. > > * e.g., 64 KiB DRAM address space; clock rate of single-digit or tens o= f megahertz > >=20 > > Various ports of GCC to Z80 exist, but they seem to focus exclusively o= n > > C-proper, instead of on C++ or Ada. > >=20 >=20 > The ports are in various states of broken-ness as well. None are up to > date, all are partially done. Believe me I=E2=80=99ve looked. I can understand phasing Alpha and VAX and National Semiconductor 32032 ISA= s out of modern GCC because each is no longer manufactured, but I think tha= t every compiler should support every processor on the planet that is manuf= actured =E2=80=A2today=E2=80=A2.