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: a07f3367d7,d513f20add779b3d X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,public,usenet X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!goblin1!goblin.stu.neva.ru!feeder.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Simon Clubley Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Migrating to Ada : a mini success story Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:50:35 +0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: Injection-Date: Mon, 15 Feb 2010 13:50:35 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: feeder.eternal-september.org; posting-host="4pjzwDT2MPp9AkNxUo/C4Q"; logging-data="26675"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/XWQFdXH55HTSDWI9/xMpK8Cx0jKzbw9Y=" User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.1 (VMS/Multinet) Cancel-Lock: sha1:JCTdg0mKgM5S1bGIFmyROB46wdE= Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9230 Date: 2010-02-15T13:50:35+00:00 List-Id: On 2010-02-13, Hibou57 wrote: > Hello once again, > > Here is a new quote about Ada, in another interesting context (no more LP > this time) : > http://gmarceau.qc.ca/blog/2009/05/speed-size-and-dependability-of.html > > Lanny wrote (2009 dated, so let suppose it was Ada 2005): >> Several years ago, I was doing a one-programmer job to move a large >> medical-laboratory instrumentation control from DIBOL to Ada. I was >> using the open-source GNAT Ada compiler and the DIBOL compiler from >> Synergex, as I had to maintain the old DIBOL program while writing >> its replacement in Ada. Unfortunately, the project was canceled >> after three months of work when the laboratory was sold, but I was >> able to compare DIBOL and Ada with respect to the time needed to >> find and fix a bug, and Ada was a huge win. Most DIBOL bugs took a >> full day to run down, and the worst-case bugs required 4 days to run >> down. During the same three months, the large majority of Ada bugs >> were found and fixed in 15 minutes or less, and the most difficult >> one took 4 hours. > I actually use DIBOL (along with other more traditional languages) as part of my day job and there are times when I dream about replacing it with Ada after tripping up over yet another language feature or not been able to model a problem in the way I can in Ada. Unfortunately, he doesn't say what features of the Synergex toolkit he uses as it's more than just a compiler. Given it's intended use in business applications, it contains, amongst other things, a forms toolkit which will run on a character cell terminal and a file toolkit which implements support for ISAM files with multiple and segmented keys. The forms toolkit is actually quite advanced given it's character cell requirements, containing the ability to define a form in terms of fields containing different types of data (alpha, numeric, dates, etc) and containing support for callback routines for custom field level validation. I would love to find an open source equivalent of the forms and ISAM toolkits which could be called from Ada. Simon. -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980's technology to a 21st century world