Re: Separate Compilation in Programming Languages

[Ray Blaak <rAYblaaK@STRIPCAPStelus.net>]

<adaworks@sbcglobal.net> writes:
> "Ray Blaak" <rAYblaaK@STRIPCAPStelus.net> wrote in message 
> news:uhcfv5xql.fsf@STRIPCAPStelus.net...
> >
> > Does the existence of gnatmake indicate corrupted dependency management in
> > Ada?
> >
> No. It might indicate a problem with the GNAT implementation, but not
> with Ada.  Not all Ada compilers are GNAT, and some handle this
> more easily.   One of the issues for GNAT is that it depends on
> the GNU model.  This is not true of Rational Apex, Aonix, or
> even the ICC compiler.

I guess what I object to here is the idea that tools like gnatmake or Ant
indicate a problem at all.

GNAT's library model lives on a different place on the tradeoff curve as
compared to the other Ada vendors. It allows some problems to be avoided at
the expense of suffering from other possible problems that the other Ada
vendors do not.

It is also pretty simple.

So, if one considers gnatmake to be an essential part of the GNAT build
system, then my view is that this how the build dependency problem is solved
for GNAT. 

There is no problem with the implementation as such.

-- 
Cheers,                                        The Rhythm is around me,
                                               The Rhythm has control.
Ray Blaak                                      The Rhythm is inside me,
rAYblaaK@STRIPCAPStelus.net                    The Rhythm has my soul.