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: 103376,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: 109fba,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: 115aec,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: f43e6,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,gid109fba,gid115aec,gidf43e6,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news4.google.com!news.glorb.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!newscon02.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!newsmst01a.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssvr21.news.prodigy.com.POSTED!4988f22a!not-for-mail From: Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++,comp.realtime,comp.software-eng References: <4229bad9$0$1019$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au> <1110032222.447846.167060@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <871xau9nlh.fsf@insalien.org> <3SjWd.103128$Vf.3969241@news000.worldonline.dk> <87r7iu85lf.fsf@insalien.org> <87is4598pm.fsf@insalien.org> <1110054476.533590@athnrd02> <1110059861.560004@athnrd02> <422b6d49.1141887367@news.xs4all.nl> <1110266099.441421.179290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com> <1110332933.587110.260410@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com> <1110390097.532139.43430@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> <422f3808$0$30165$ba620e4c@news.skynet.be> <1110409958.685759.249420@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <15SdnYvJ0_x3Vq3fRVn-3Q@megapath.net> <1110522060.091940.178510@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: Teaching new tricks to an old dog (C++ -->Ada) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 64.164.118.168 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: newssvr21.news.prodigy.com 1111419465 ST000 64.164.118.168 (Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:37:45 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:37:45 EST Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com X-UserInfo1: TSUGW^WETZSMB_DX]BCBNWX@RJ_XPDLMN@GZ_GYO^BTJUZ]CDVW[AKK[J\]^HVKHG^EWZHBLO^[\NH_AZFWGN^\DHNVMX_DHHX[FSQKBOTS@@BP^]C@RHS_AGDDC[AJM_T[GZNRNZAY]GNCPBDYKOLK^_CZFWPGHZIXW@C[AFKBBQS@E@DAZ]VDFUNTQQ]FN Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 15:37:45 GMT Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9675 comp.lang.c++:46554 comp.realtime:1566 comp.software-eng:5166 Date: 2005-03-21T15:37:45+00:00 List-Id: "Jerry Coffin" wrote in message news:1110522060.091940.178510@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com... > The mindset that embraces Ada simply would never have designed things > that way. Heck, I'm clearly on the C++ side of the fence, and I stil > find many of them at least mildly distasteful. Had they been designed > by Ada programmers, the hackish character would be gone. Instead, the > system would be designed to operate in harmony as a coordinated system. > Possibly. However, I have seen more than enough "hacked" Ada to wonder whether, in the hands of the larger community, the unruly would still run amuck, even with Ada as their language. Although the default for most constructs in Ada tends toward the notion of "safe," there are lots of ways to "relax" the language's emphasis on safety. I recall that when I first learned Ada, I used to first read Appendix F of any compiler manual so I could find ways to get down to the machine level, do workarounds, and migrate back to my original assembler programmer roots. It took me quite a while to finally understand the value of limited types, the strict model that separates scope and visibility, and other important [engineering] ideas unique to Ada. As to C and C++, the rules are much more relaxed at the outset than they are in Ada. It is difficult to take a language that is not type-safe and get programmers to make it type-safe than it is to take a language that is type-safe and selectively relax the rules - something we do routinely in Ada. Richard Riehle