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 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 11232c,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: fdb77,5f529c91be2ac930 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,583275b6950bf4e6 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,899fc98b2883af4a X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-05-15 07:35:14 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn13feed!wn12feed!worldnet.att.net!207.115.63.142!prodigy.com!newsmst01.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssvr16.news.prodigy.com.POSTED!dff27464!not-for-mail From: "David Lightstone" Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.object,comp.lang.ada,misc.misc,comp.software-eng References: <9fa75d42.0305141747.5680c577@posting.google.com> <7GGwa.849701$F1.107635@sccrnsc04> <3EC3A45B.4A34A487@easystreet.com> Subject: Re: Quality systems (Was: Using Ada for device drivers? (Was: the Ada mandate, and why it collapsed and died)) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 67.72.201.253 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: newssvr16.news.prodigy.com 1053009245 ST000 67.72.201.253 (Thu, 15 May 2003 10:34:05 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 10:34:05 EDT Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com X-UserInfo1: T[O[R^_G\BWOFPLXIBIL^_DBZZ_LPUHOPHWN_AUM]XMTWA]EPMTKAH_[JTXDX_KI\VB]JBVMS^YT_G[CZVWAOS\DHFWEH]@KGXYHB\_CMDSFABP^J[AHHRKARLE_JDBLJ\XA[JRMEI]MGJSPB\Y]^KG\@S^@VQKI_Q[G@@_ACSARASDEFLBJ]S\GFNTUAVBL Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 14:34:05 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.java.advocacy:63845 comp.object:63460 comp.lang.ada:37348 misc.misc:14200 comp.software-eng:19202 Date: 2003-05-15T14:34:05+00:00 List-Id: wrote in message news:3EC3A45B.4A34A487@easystreet.com... > tmoran@acm.org wrote: > > > > > In the early days of PCs, people > > > had to often write many things from scratch, and address > > > CGA and VGA and whatnot cards, and draw pixels, and interface > > > to telephony cards... All that would have been practically > > > impossible in Ada. > > Having done each of those things with both Ada and C, I'm curious why > > you could possibly think they were any harder in Ada, much less > > "practically impossible". > > IIRC the early days of the PC were also the early days of Ada. The > only Ada I could find that ran on a PC was the Alsys(?) version, > requiring a custom hardware upgrade because the compiler required > 4 MB or so to run, and many PC's had far less than the 640 kb of > ram that the 8088's and 8086's could address. > > There was not only a 640 kb limit, there were some 64 kb limits > on the size of memory segments in most of the PC software prior to > 1987. I don't recall ever seeing an Ada product or tool that would > run on an 8086 or 8088 without special hardware added. Were there > any? If I am to believe the documentation for the Meridian compilier version 4.1 it should work on a 8086 with MS-DOS version 2.1 or later I have never tested it in that environment, so I can not confirm the claim > > > Al