Re: Free ADA compiler

[jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter)]

>ADA seems to have a lot in common with PL/1.  I program in C and have no
>problems.

Quantify, please. What is the complexity measure of the programs you
work on? Specifically, provide the following:

a) SLOC
b) Number of developers
c) Number of configurations (targets, options, etc)
d) Number of subcontractors/sites
e) Number of threads of control
f) Number of estimated years for project
g) Estimated cost
h) Number of development environments/languages
i) Number of paradigms (e.g. real-time embedded, data base, GUI, etc)
j) Documentation/design standards required to adhere to (e.g. 2167A, etc)

Only when these sorts of things are taken into account does the statement
that you "have no problems" programming in C acquire enough semantic
content to be useful.

Until then, you could be hacking out 2k programs on a PC, in which case
C might actually be up to the job.

P.S. Does "no problems" include no problems with pointers walking off
     into hyperspace, functions returning the wrong type of result,
     functions getting called with the wrong type/number of arguments,
     inability to read the code two weeks later, or any of a number of
     other problems commonly encountered by C folks?
--
***** DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed herein are my own, except in
      the realm of software engineering, in which case I've borrowed
      them from incredibly smart people.