Re: Only one Ada vendor?

[Simon Wright <simon.j.wright@mac.com>]

"Nasser Abbasi" <nma@12000.org> writes:

> If this was say C or C++ code full of #ifdefs and each C compiler
> having its own set of a million different compiler switches I would
> understand, but Ada code?  So I am just curious why would it be hard
> to "switch" Ada compilers?

Application code is very likely to depend on compiler-specific
extensions and support packages; eg GNAT's 'Unrestricted_Access and
GNAT.Sockets.

You might say 'so make your own socket binding', but our experience is
that that will support an imperfect subset of the underlying library;
for example, not providing TCP_NODELAY.

Another pressure is the need to avoid re-certification. We have strong
resistance to upgrading the version of GNAT we use in case it affects
application behaviour. And remember many of the projects that might
switch will be in long-term maintenance; if there's a complete set of
unit tests it would be less of a risk, but that can be a big IF.

--S