Re: ada compiler?

["Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>]

"anon" <anon@anon.org> wrote in message
news:kwd_i.94821$kj1.82854@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
> -- You have to learn to crawl before you can walk and learn the rules
> -- to walk before you should run.
>
> First, GNAT may be the only Ada 2005 compiler at the movement but that
> may change if other posters arecorrect. Second, GNAT is not the only
> compiler in use today, people are still using Ada 95 from other vendors.
> Software vedors like GHS, IBM, and Janas have Ada compilers and not one
> of them use "gnatmake".

That's surely true. But the first thing we try to teach programmers (on page
3 of our installation instructions) is to use "make" or "jmake" to do
compiles, rather than running the compiler phases individually. We've had a
tool called "make" (or "jmake" on Unix-like systems, since "make" is already
taken) since the mid-80s, and unlike most other programming languages, it is
fully automated. The only time I use individual compile or link commands is
when debugging the compiler.

>  But all vendors including Adacore uses a version
> of the three steps to build an Ada partition.

Sure, if you want to tear your hair out rather than letting the computer do
the difficult work of calculating a legal compilation order.

> And if you check with the Ada LRM you will see that the LM promotes a
> concept of not wasting or hogging resources.  Since "gnatmake" is a
> resource hog the concept states that it should not be used. And as most
> poster say the Ada LRM is the final word.

Gee, I think I know something about the RM, and I don't recall any such
statement about the compilation environment. Could you provide a referemce?
Perhaps you are confusing a statement about the user's program as applying
to the compilation environment?  Or perhaps you are taking some
non-normative text as having some important meaning??

> Plus, if Adacore is sold and gutted, goes out of business, or falls out of
> favor with other companies.  The newbees need to know the concept of
> how an Ada partition is generated.

It's different for every Ada compiler. There's little knowledge that can be
carried over, so it simply doesn't matter.

> Now just to be funny. Adacore would love to hear this but, the boss's
blood
> pressure might hit the roof. That is, if the programmer said, "I do not
know
> how to build a Ada program without using 'gnatmake' ".

*I* barely remember how to build an Ada program using Janus/Ada commands
other than "make", and I *designed* and *wrote* much of Janus/Ada!!
Obviously, there is value to knowing alternative ways of doing things, but
they should very rarely be needed. It's probably better to spend your
learning things that you'll actually use in your job, but what do I know.
;-)

                        Randy.