Re: What is wrong with Ada?

[Markus E Leypold <development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVETHIS@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de>]

Simon Wright <simon.j.wright@mac.com> writes:

> Markus E Leypold <development-2006-8ecbb5cc8aREMOVETHIS@ANDTHATm-e-leypold.de> writes:
>
>> Good question. That "real Ada software engineers" (like "real men")
>> never need a debugger might be the reason why gdb is so badly
>> integrated with Gnat. That's a thought.
>

> gdb seems to me to be no worse integrated with GNAT than with other
> languages. 

At least with C it's much better integrated.

> But then I'm working with supported tools ...

That is no question of supported or unsupported, but of strange syntax
quirks, of tab-completion showing one syntax, but the command
acceptiong only the other, of strange and annoying questions (paging
me 50 instances of some init() function if I say break Init is
absolutely annoying).

As as far as "supported tools" go: The positions I meet here in
c.l.a. are a bit self contradicting (and actually different from what
I find elsewhere): "Yes there are even free tools", "No there are no
problems with Ada compilers", "If you can't afford $<big number> for
support from <major vendor> you're not professional enough". But: "Why
don't more people start to use Ada?" (Mind that includes hobbyists and
people relegated to hobbyist status because they aren't big business,
like myself).

So yes, free tools exist -- as long as don't have too much
expections. But no -- don't use the free tools if you do anything,
because problems are only and are already fixed in the supported
versions, and anyway if you're serious you have buy a supported
version.

(Only that all that sort of ground rules don't apply with other
languages from C++ to Java so I'm not surprised that some people have
a more relayed attitude towards those -- "let's try and feel them,
startusing them seriously if they feel nice and then buy support (or
simply experts :-), when we really need it").

Perhaps we shouldn't call Adacore GPL Gnat or FSF Gnat the free
version but refer to them consequently as the "cost free non serious
version, only for playing around by hobbyists". Of course then I don't
wonder that "nobody uses Ada", since it's only serious people anyway
(Software Engineers as opposed to the unwashed masses of coders) that
use Ada.

OK -- it was perhaps not you who earned that diatribe (so please feel
free to ignore it) but somebody or somebodies here certainly have.

Regards -- Markus