From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,9923b1c3be80099b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: mheaney@ni.net (Matthew Heaney) Subject: Re: Ada and Mac (Was: New version of AppletMagic) Date: 1996/10/09 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 188394478 references: <53d992INNnp@maz4.sma.ch> <53dnlp$bq7@news.syspac.com> <1996Oct8.190225.1@eisner> <53gikd$1nr@felix.seas.gwu.edu> content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 organization: Estormza Software mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-10-09T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew Heaney Software Development Consultant mheaney@ni.net (818) 985-1271