Re: Ada OS

["I. Levashew" <octagram@bluebottle.com>]

Peter Hermann пїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅпїЅ:
> Randy Brukardt mentioned the idea of an operating system all in Ada
> which he ranked as unrealistic.
Well, it isn't. I'm a bit more optimistic about it.

What if we choose a bit another way of accomplishing this non-easy goal? 
What I mean: not to do it from scratch, but reengineer existing system. 
Infect Open Source.

It's about motivation. How much effort one must spend to get any result.
I think the one willing to see something rewritten in Ada should 
concentrate on providing easy way to infect C programs. That is, it 
should be easy to get any open source tarball-distributed utility and 
put a bit of Ada source into it. It should be benefittable to write 
addons in Ada, not in C or C++. Once the society realize that many 
tarballs contain Ada code, Ada may become more common PL than ever. 
Currently we can obtain (for example) Leopard double-layer(!) install 
DVD. Install DVD always contain developer tools. There is Perl, Python, 
Ruby, Tcl/Tk, etc inside. But on the whole double-layer DVD there wasn't 
any GNAT despite being part of main GCC distribution. Ada lock-ins will 
ensure higher availability of GNAT.

There were times when Perl was the only scripting PL widely used in *NIX 
("Swiss Army Chainsaw" of *NIX). Now we can see Perl and Python sharing 
this niche. What if the same thing to some extent is applicable to Ada?

I'd like to start infecting projects that are not developed anymore, but 
still used. That way :
a) original authors shouldn't care about inclusion of Ada in sources
b) Ada programs wouldn't be rare aliens.

ShakesPeer, a Direct Connect client for Mac OS X have all the repertoire 
of bugs specific to (Objective)C. Will it be rewritten in Ada, it'll 
become better, thus raising reputation of Ada.
(For several reasons writing something in Ada is insanely difficult on 
Mac OS X, so I can't even get started doing it.)

If there was many successful experiences of C(++) project converted to 
Ada, idea of rewritting C(++)->Ada would be more popular. Thus we could 
have much more coder hands willing to rewrite.

It's just a wild idea.