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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5cb36983754f64da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-04-13 07:14:27 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!newsfeed3.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!newsfeed1.easynews.com!newsfeed3.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!border1.nntp.sjc.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local1.nntp.sjc.giganews.com!nntp.comcast.com!news.comcast.com.POSTED!not-for-mail NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 09:14:25 -0500 Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 10:14:25 -0400 From: "Robert I. Eachus" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: No call for Ada (was Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language) References: <20040206174017.7E84F4C4114@lovelace.ada-france.org> <54759e7e.0402071124.322ea376@posting.google.com> <406EB6D2.8030801@noplace.com> <87d66pyw1g.fsf@insalien.org> <406EEC35.7040109@noplace.com> <874qs0zvy1.fsf@insalien.org> <40714C98.90601@noplace.com> <1073gv22t969q5a@corp.supernews.com> <40729B9D.30906@noplace.com> <1076000ef5oj06f@corp.supernews.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.147.90.114 X-Trace: sv3-8ToHOvC7obm+h4Z1oX1fecYvPaGILJ+HIBapq0PUL9wjJEiNEPelflOoTzlo9t3miosOnaTafDvwKAm!J/3QjK451r3jAnKzv8pHsvoBrVJCWswu/a6h/6Kgprw16txgKXwzXtgpFN/PsQ== X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-DMCA-Complaints-To: dmca@comcast.net X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.1 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7052 Date: 2004-04-13T10:14:25-04:00 List-Id: David Starner wrote: > Or I could go with Ada. There's no standard networking code, and no way > to input UTF-8 - I can't even input it into the basic character type and > process it, not and stay within the standard. (Of course, that's what > everyone does.) Worse yet, there's no standard or even existing libraries > (IIRC) that will normalize Unicode text or sort it in a language dependent > manner. > > It may be general-purpose, but it doesn't fit this purpose. Given that > a lot of programs need to access the net and handle the world's languages, > that's pretty bad. I think you are confused here. What operating system are you targeting? And which Ada compiler do you want to use? As far as Ada is concerned, input and output of extended character sets in part depends on the underlying OS. The technical decisions that in standard mode, Character = Latin1, Wide_Character = BMP are just decisions about a standard default. RM 3.5.2(4) says: "In a nonstandard mode, an implementation may provide other interpretations for the predefined types Character and Wide_Character, to conform to local conventions." If you need an implementation that maps Wide_Character to Unicode instead of the BMP, fine. Personally, I have never needed to go outside the BMP. (Klingon anyone?) As for UTF-8, that is again an implementation specific decision as to the external representation of Wide_Character. If you need software to map from Wide_Character to UTF-8 on a system that doesn't normally use UTF-8, you can write it if you have to, but there are several implementations around. If the compiler you choose to use doesn't support it, you can write your own version of Wide_Text_IO. Yes, I know you were complaining about having to do that. But as I see it, that is complaining that you choose the wrong compiler, not the wrong language. To make this point explicit, in GNAT 3.15p, there are six Wide_Character encodings supported. A Form parameter of WCEM=8 specifies UTF-8. Or you can compile with -gnatW8, which makes UTF-8 the default representation. That doesn't prevent you from using the other representations in some files at run-time, it changes the representation with no Form string supplied. So how difficult is it to use UTF-8 in Ada? ;-) -- Robert I. Eachus "The terrorist enemy holds no territory, defends no population, is unconstrained by rules of warfare, and respects no law of morality. Such an enemy cannot be deterred, contained, appeased or negotiated with. It can only be destroyed--and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the business at hand." -- Dick Cheney