Re: Buffer overflow Article - CACM

[Keith Thompson <kst-u@mib.org>]

"robin" <robin_v@bigpond.com> writes:
> "Georg Bauhaus" <bauhaus@futureapps.de> wrote in message
> news:1136281961.9673.21.camel@sonnenregen...
[...]
>> The point here is that you are trying to praise
>> your language by showing that there is a
>> small overlap, mostly syntactically, with some other
>> language.
>
> No I'm not trying to do that.
>     I'm saying that Ada code can be compiled by a PL/I
> compiler, illustrating the versatility of the language.
>     I'm not relying on any similarity of statements to achieve that.

For context, here's the sample PL/I code you posted upthread:

] Mixed: procedure options (main); 
]     ... 
] ADA( 
] StringReverse (S: Text) return Text is 
] begin 
]     if Length(S) <= 1 
]        then return S; 
]        else return StringReverse(Tail(S)) & Head(S); 
] end StringReverse; 
] ); 
] end mixed;

Presumably the Ada type "Text" and the various functions are defined
elsewhere.

So PL/I, or some particular PL/I implementation, has a mechanism to
include Ada code inline.  Presumably this wasn't originally a feature
of the language, since PL/I substantially predates Ada.

Please keep in mind that you're posting in a forum where most of us
don't know PL/I.  Posting a code fragment isn't very useful unless you
provide some more information.

Is this "ADA( ... );" construct a feature of the standard PL/I
language (is there a standard?), or is it an extension provided by one
particular implementation?  Are languages other than Ada supported?
Does the PL/I compiler itself actually compile the Ada code (that
seems unlikely), or does it invoke a separate Ada compiler?  What are
the semantics and restrictions of the construct?  What advantages, if
any, does this give you over compiling the Ada code separately and
linking the Ada and PL/I code together?

Without this information, the code fragment you posted doesn't seem
very illuminating.

-- 
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) kst-u@mib.org  <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center             <*>  <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something.  This is something.  Therefore, we must do this.