Re: Ada and Mac (Was: New version of AppletMagic)

[mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney)]

In article <53gikd$1nr@felix.seas.gwu.edu>, mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael
Feldman) wrote:

>The general issue has been discussed with Metrowerks principals.
>They were not _in the least_ interested in developing an Ada 95 
>front end.  They are willing to provide their plug-in specs,
>as they would to any developer, but made it quite clear that if
>GNAT was involved, they would do _nothing_ to support or promote
>it, or even put it on their site for contributed software.

I can't blame Metrowerks for not wanting to build an Ada 95 front end from
scratch, because 

1) It would be very difficult, and 
2) Intermetrics already did it.

>Pure and simple, they wanted nothing whatsoever to do with anything
>under the GPL.

They are in the commercial software business, so again, I can't blame them
for distancing themselves from the GPL.  Commercial shops and the Free
Software Foundation can happily coexist, not unlike commercial radio and,
say, NPR.  Paying for software isn't a moral issue.

>In my opinion, AdaMagic (or indeed AppletMagic, which is what started
>this thread) would be a good candidate for a Mac port (whether free-
>standing or as a CW plug-in). At least the front end exists. 

I agree whole-heartedly.  As a matter of fact, I contacted Intermetrics
about that very idea.  The deal is that one can buy the front end, or not
buy it but give them part of your profit.  I am still seriously considering
doing this.

Now, if Metrowerks called me today and said, "Matt, we want to market an
Ada 95 compiler for the Mac and would like you to help us plug the
Intermetrics front end into our back end," then I would happily quit my
contract and move to Austin tomorrow.  Writing an Ada compiler for the Mac
would be, well, like a dream come true.

There are already today multi-processor Macs.  What better way to exploit
that technology than by using Ada?

Multi-threading will be built into System 8.  What better way to take
advantage of that feature than by writing your apps in Ada?

And why not do the port now, while System 8 is still under development? 
The details of System 8 are still being worked out (that's probably an
understatement...), so I bet Apple would listen to suggestions for
including OS features that would facilitate an Ada run-time environment. 
And with a new port, we don't have to worry about anything breaking under a
new OS.

Metrowerks already targets the BeOS, which has a multi-tasking kernal. 
What better way to write software for the BeOS than by using Ada?

>Mike Feldman

Still hoping,
Matt

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Matthew Heaney
Software Development Consultant
mheaney@ni.net
(818) 985-1271