Ada the Future Language of Secure Communications.

Ada the Future Language of Secure Communications.

[Austin Obyrne]

I have recently finished work on a number of ciphers that are all written in Ada-95 and decided to try rewriting these in C++ with the full intention of completing that project but gave up when I realised this was a retrogressive plan.

I do not have any shares in Ada or C++ so there is no reason form to be biased or even partisan about either language and its suitability for encryption programming but I must say that I found Ada so superior to C++ for writing cipher programs that it behoves ne to say so very publicly in case any body else is planning to do so.

I have formed the belief that C++ is a terse, minimalised counter-intuitive language that owes a lot of its characteristics to a time when memory and computer power were not what they are today leaving an unfortunate legacy that is here to stay.  No doubt it can do everything that Ada can do but not quite so well and so smoothly.

I am of the belief that Ada will always be the preferred language for secure communications.  This is important when considering that ‘bulk’ copy ‘n paste encryption of entire computer drive files and ad hoc word processing is very much on the cards in the near future.

adacrypt

Re: Ada the Future Language of Secure Communications.

[Pascal J. Bourguignon]

Austin Obyrne <austin.obyrne@hotmail.com> writes:

> I have recently finished work on a number of ciphers that are all
> written in Ada-95 and decided to try rewriting these in C++ with the
> full intention of completing that project but gave up when I realised
> this was a retrogressive plan.
>
> I do not have any shares in Ada or C++ so there is no reason form to
> be biased or even partisan about either language and its suitability
> for encryption programming but I must say that I found Ada so superior
> to C++ for writing cipher programs that it behoves ne to say so very
> publicly in case any body else is planning to do so.
>
> I have formed the belief that C++ is a terse, minimalised
> counter-intuitive language that owes a lot of its characteristics to a
> time when memory and computer power were not what they are today
> leaving an unfortunate legacy that is here to stay.  No doubt it can
> do everything that Ada can do but not quite so well and so smoothly.
>
> I am of the belief that Ada will always be the preferred language for
> secure communications.  This is important when considering that ‘bulk’
> copy ‘n paste encryption of entire computer drive files and ad hoc
> word processing is very much on the cards in the near future.


This is not limited to cryptographic algorithms.  C++ is useless.  C can
have some use (in writing a unix kernel for a small computer such as a
PDP-7).  But any program written nowaday on current hardware is better
written in any other language.

-- 
__Pascal Bourguignon__
http://www.informatimago.com/

Re: Ada the Future Language of Secure Communications.

[Yannick Duchêne (Hibou57)]

Le Sat, 07 Dec 2013 17:38:00 +0100, Pascal J. Bourguignon  
<pjb@informatimago.com> a écrit:
> This is not limited to cryptographic algorithms.  C++ is useless.  C can
> have some use (in writing a unix kernel for a small computer such as a
> PDP-7).  But any program written nowaday on current hardware is better
> written in any other language.

Small talk: C can have all uses as a target language. C is better as a  
target language than as a language for handwritten application, rather the  
opposite for Ada (while there are be exceptions for both cases). Even a  
kernel for a small computer would be better written in Ada if handwritten,  
and better be C if preferably generated by an Ada compiler or from some  
formal methods (there exist formalisations of subset of C for various  
assisted proof environment and a formally certified C compiler, name  
CompCert).


-- 
“Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semi-colons.” [1]
“Structured Programming supports the law of the excluded muddle.” [1]
[1]: Epigrams on Programming — Alan J. — P. Yale University