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From: dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)
Subject: Re: I NEED ADA
Date: 1997/05/17
Message-ID: <dewar.863878834@merv>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 242804577
References: <01bc628b$9aef9520$15be0ccb@default>
Organization: New York University
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1997-05-17T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>


iTony asks

<<HI I am a Flinders University Student And am trying to get and copy of Ada
for windows
95
I Have tryed Unsuccessfully To get it through the uni However it is
supposed to be avalible for the students free of charge.

Well free from price but payment in mental anguish and loss of hair.

If you can give me a web site that gives a shareware of FREEWARE vers I
would most greatfull>>


There is no shareware or freeware version of an Ada 95 compiler, but there
is a complete free software solution, in GNAT. This is available for
downloading at no charge from multiple sites, including cs.nyu.edu,
directories pub/gnat -- if you go there you will also find a catalog
of mirror sites, one of which may be more convenient for you.

You can also obtain the Walnut Creek Ada CD ROM. Not quite free of charge,
but quite inexpensive.

Finally, Aonix makes a version of its Ada 95 compiler available not free,
but at modest charge -- it can be obtained "free" with an Ada text book,
visit their web site for details.

In general visit www.adahome.com for more details on these and many other
useful Ada related topics.

P.S. There is an important distinction between freeware and free software.
The critical point about freeware is that it is free of charge, and 
typically completely unsupported. The point of free software is that
it may be freely redistributed and comes with full sources, so you can
also modify it freely for your own use, or redistribute your changes.

A lot of freeware is not free software at all. It comes with redistribution
restrictions, and often does not come with source.

Free software may or may not be obtainable free of charge. For example, iff
you want to use GNAT on a serious project, then you may well find it
advantageous to obtain support, and that makes GNAT far from free (though
still competitively priced with other proprietary technologies).

In English, freeware and free software get mixed up, because we have only
one word free, with two very different meanings (free of charge, as in
free lunch, and free of restrictions, as in free speach).

In almost all languages (all but English?) there are two separate words,
and it is easier to avoid confusion, so for example, in France we say
"GNAT, c'est libre, mais ce n'est pas gratuit."

Although there is no requirement that free software be made available free
of charge (despite some people's confusion on this point), in the case of
GNAT, we do eventually make all versions of GNAT available publicly, and
freely available over the internet.

Robert Dewar
Ada Core Technologies