Re: Newbie: display control

[Stephen Leake <Stephen.A.Leake@nasa.gov>]

svaa@ciberpiula.net (svaa) writes:

> Hello:
>   Is there any library to control display cursor etc, that has become
> an standard "de facto" in Ada 95?.

Look on adapower.com; there are packages that control cursors in text
displays.

> I'm a newbie in Ada, but I think it's strange that Ada RM, that
> covers a lot of stuff, doesn't have a screen/cursor/keyboard
> standard spec. the user interface in Ada 95 is sad (well, I would
> say missing).

Yes, it is missing. That's because there is no "international standard
user interface device". Ada is an international standard, so it has to
be very careful about specifying things that might not be.

> I know there are a lot of terminals, and depends a lot upon
> hardware. But the first Ada was born in 1983, not in 1960, terminals
> were then an important part of computers world. I don't mean Ada
> should have a full GUI, but at least a "clear screen", and "set
> cursor position" procedure. 

Is there an international standard for these operations?

> Or was the main goal of Ada embedded systems?

One of the main goals.


At the same time, the "normal" user interface these days is graphical
(bitmapped), not command-line or character screens. On adapower.com,
you will also find severl non-standard libraries to handle graphical
displays.

-- 
-- Stephe