Re: Windows and Ada

Re: Windows and Ada

[(No Name)]

Cameron writes:
I was going to try some windows programing in Ada and was
wondering what the best way to go about it was. i.e.

 - Are there libraries available.  Do I have to call the Windows
API?

 - Should I write the windows stuff in Visual Basic and then link
to a VBX library?

- other options?

Is there anyone with any experience out there who could point me
in the right direction?

I have a Meridian compiler for DOS(4.???), are there any compilers that
run under windows?
-------
  My advice is to carefully track Windows 95 before committing
to any plan.
  Subscribe to WinNEws winnews@microsoft.nwnet.com
  Roam their home page and drill down. I believe its
www.microsoft.com.
  Order a pre-release Windows 95 $32.00, only a few left.
  If you are creating a product then request a Windows 95
logo certification package to find out all the technical,
procedural and business rules.
  Then contact all of your suppliers, language tool vendors,
installer tools, libraries etc. and ask them for a committment
to Windows 95.  This would include the Ada compiler vendors
of course.
  It is my opinion that if you don't do this you will have a
product, perhaps written in Ada, that will be self-satisfying
_BUT_ will be an orphan this fall (in the northern hemisphere and
this spring in the southern hemisphere :-)  ).
  Some technical things I recall are:
You must have true 32 bit code.
You must have an installer AND uninstaller.
You must support long filenames.
There are a few others I don't understand.

Don't pick a programming language - pick a language tools vendor
else you risk being unable to have a Win 95 certified product.
Oh yes, certification testing fee is $600 for software, $200
for each retry.

  I think it will be worth the initial grief.  I look forward to
the plug and play environment.  The PC will finally be up to
Macintosh standards and s/w vendors can develop with confidence
that the end user can plug and play certified h/w and s/w.  Your
tech support costs should go WAY down.

p.s. If your Ada compiler supports only short filenames AND
you want to use long filenames we put a package called
Universal FileNames (UFN) in the STARS repository about 5
years ago.

sam harbaugh
integrated software inc.
palm bay, florida
---

Re: Windows and Ada

[Stephen McNeill]

In article <INFO-ADA%95040108211198@VM1.NODAK.EDU> "(No Name)" <HARBAUGH@ROO.FIT.EDU> writes:

>Date: Sat, 1 Apr 1995 09:20:00 EDT
>From: "(No Name)" <HARBAUGH@ROO.FIT.EDU>
>Subject: Re: Windows and Ada
>
>Cameron writes:
>I was going to try some windows programing in Ada and was
>wondering what the best way to go about it was. i.e.
>
> - Are there libraries available.  Do I have to call the Windows
>API?
>.
>.
>I have a Meridian compiler for DOS(4.???), are there any compilers that
>run under windows?

It is not impossible to generate Windows code from the Meridian DOS
compiler, but it would be very difficult, because you would need to
provide the bindings for Windows.  Meridian produced a Windows version
of the compiler somewhat after the last DOS update and they addressed
all these issues for you.  That product has quite a nice interface to
using Windows, with a few useful generics to make simple programs
easy to get up and going.  As usual, however, in order to do something
non-trivial, you need to invest in Windows, which can be hard work.

The Windows compiler (called OpenAda) is bundled with Wilson Windoware's
WinEdit.  This is a fair attempt to integrate the edit-compile-find-
stuffup-bind-run cycle.

I am unsure, offhand, whether the calling technique changes in the
Windows version of the compiler.  This could another (ahem) difficulty
- which is an understatement

The other slight problem is that Meridian got absorbed, and no longer
can supply the DOS or Windows compiler.  Various stories abound in this
newsgroup that you can/can't get one of the few remaining copies.  I leave
those people to deal with that issue...

In response to the original query, someone replied:

>
>... stuff ommitted
>
>  It is my opinion that if you don't do this you will have a
>product, perhaps written in Ada, that will be self-satisfying
>_BUT_ will be an orphan this fall (in the northern hemisphere and
>this spring in the southern hemisphere :-)  ).
>  Some technical things I recall are:
>You must have true 32 bit code.
>You must have an installer AND uninstaller.
>You must support long filenames.
>There are a few others I don't understand.

Well, this may be true, and I wouldn't necessarily disagree too strongly,
but I would not strongly agree either.  As a comment, if one's application is
so sensitive that it relies on Windows-95 then I would be very reticent 
to invest the time in the product itself, simply because it may be too
much of a risk.

It all depends on what the original poster had in mind.  If a simple in-house
application - then Windows-95 is not much use at all.  If it is a commercial
product looking for intensive consumer buying, then the situation is somewhat
different.  In our applications we strive for compiler, environment and 
target independence.  We don't do this for any other reason than that we
can't trust any particular operating system or environment for the life
of our applications.  Hence the stated advice of..

>Don't pick a programming language - pick a language tools vendor
>else you risk being unable to have a Win 95 certified product.

...is about the reverse of what we do.

However, as they say, YMMV.

Stephen

-----
Stephen McNeill
Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd
Box 38-491
Wellington Mail Centre
New Zealand

Phone:    +64-4-5690183
FAX:      +64-4-5690181
Internet: mcneills@landcare.cri.nz