Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[Mark Bayern]

 
>
>    Someone asked me to recommend a good Ada compiler for the IBM PC.  I
>    have no expericence with PCs.  Can anyone tell me which are worthwhile?
>    I'm told these computers have max. memory and the company who wants asked
>    is looking for instructional purposes only.
>
>    Thanks.


Call Alsys -- and be sure to tell them its for educational use.

Mark

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[dog.ee.lbl.gov!network.ucsd.edu!sdd.hp.com!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!new]

In article <736698236.AA01161@f262.n620.z3.fidonet.org>, tp923021@fir.canberra.
edu.au (ben elliston) writes:
|> Organization: Compact Solutions, Canberra ACT Australia
|> 
|>  >     Someone asked me to recommend a good Ada compiler
|>  > for the IBM PC.  I
|>  >     have no expericence with PCs.  Can anyone tell me
|>  > which are worthwhile?
|>  >     I'm told these computers have max. memory and the
|>  > company who wants asked
|>  >     is looking for instructional purposes only.
|> 
|> Meridian ACE isn't _too_ bad.  It sure leaves a lot to be desired.  It's pro
bably one of the best that I've seen on a PC, anyway.
|> 

I use both the Meridian ACE environment and their Window environment.
I like them both.  You have to play around with the Window environment
to meet your needs, but once done, it is fine.  One environment that
I have seen demonstrate and impressed me was (I believe AETech's).
A colleague of mind used both Meridian and Alsys together in a
project and preferred to use Meridian's ACE to develop the code, but
perferred Alsys code generation for the final product.  I'd like to
hear the opinion of others.
-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  John (Jack) Beidler				                   |
|  Prof. of Computer Science Internet: BEIDLER@JAGUAR.UOFS.EDU     |
|  University of Scranton              beidler@guinness.cs.uofs.edu|
|  Scranton, PA 18510	      Bitnet : BEIDLER@SCRANTON            |
|                                                                  |
|          Phone: (717) 941-7446	 FAX:   (717) 941-4250     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[ben elliston]

Organization: Compact Solutions, Canberra ACT Australia

 > A colleague of mind used both Meridian and Alsys
 > together in a
 > project and preferred to use Meridian's ACE to develop
 > the code, but
 > perferred Alsys code generation for the final product.
 >  I'd like to
 > hear the opinion of others.

Sounds like I'd prefer Alsys!  At the moment, I prefer to
run Meridian from batch files - use QEdit or Borland C's
editor to write the code and a macro to run the compiler on
the command line and re-open the result file to check for
compilation errors.  Seems quite good - I hate ACE's editor!

Since when did the End key take the cursor to the bottom of
the screen?  Since when did text editors scroll when you
bumped the mouse!?

Cheers, Ben
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ben J. Elliston
Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering)                     \\\//
University of Canberra                                             (@ @)
                                                             ___ooO_( )_Ooo__
Email:      compsol@fir.canberra.edu.au                              V
Also:       ellib@cbr.cpsg.com.au
UUCP:       ..!uunet!munnari!sserve.adfa.oz.au!compsol!root
FidoNet:    3:620/262
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 * Origin: % Compact Solutions % Canberra ACT Australia % (3:620/262)

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[Laurence VanDolsen]

In article <737132018.AA01228@f262.n620.z3.fidonet.org> tp923021@fir.canberra.e
du.au (ben elliston) writes:
>
>Sounds like I'd prefer Alsys!  
>
>Since when did the End key take the cursor to the bottom of
>the screen?  Since when did text editors scroll when you
>bumped the mouse!?
>
You can use the key mapping facility to make it look (almost) like
any editor you like.  OR you can make it invoke your own editor, in
which case you lose the language sensitive capabilities which aren't
much help once you know the language syntax anyway.

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!magnus.acs.ohio]

In article <737132018.AA01228@f262.n620.z3.fidonet.org> tp923021@fir.canberra.e
du.au (ben elliston) writes:
>Sounds like I'd prefer Alsys!  At the moment, I prefer to
>run Meridian from batch files - use QEdit or Borland C's
>editor to write the code and a macro to run the compiler on
>the command line and re-open the result file to check for
>compilation errors.  Seems quite good - I hate ACE's editor!
>
>Since when did the End key take the cursor to the bottom of
>the screen?  Since when did text editors scroll when you
>bumped the mouse!?
>
WARNING: Shameless plug follows!

Sounds like you'd like to use EditAda, a Windows-based editor aimed
at Ada developers.  It's a shareware product available via anonymous
ftp from Wash U archive or from the CICA (Indiana) archive.

Shameless plug is now over.  Back to the usual rabble.... :-)

>Cheers, Ben
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Ben J. Elliston
>Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Engineering)                     \\\//
>University of Canberra                                             (@ @)
>                                                             ___ooO_( )_Ooo__
>Email:      compsol@fir.canberra.edu.au                              V
>Also:       ellib@cbr.cpsg.com.au
>UUCP:       ..!uunet!munnari!sserve.adfa.oz.au!compsol!root
>FidoNet:    3:620/262
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> * Origin: % Compact Solutions % Canberra ACT Australia % (3:620/262)


-- 
-Comments above aren't neceessarily the opinion of the SEI, AJPO, or CAE-Link-
David Weller  |  Have you hugged your DRAGOON lately?
----I'm the Ultimate International Masochist: I speak Ada AND Esperanto!-----

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[cis.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexa]

In article <1993May11.212503.5711@sei.cmu.edu> wellerd@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (David 
Weller) writes:

>Sounds like you'd like to use EditAda, a Windows-based editor aimed
>at Ada developers.  It's a shareware product available via anonymous
>ftp from Wash U archive or from the CICA (Indiana) archive.

David, for those of us who are not quite as net-literate as you are, could
you please post:

   exact net name  foo.bar.baz.edu
   exact directory /user/waldo/barbar
   exact filename(s) to transfer

I would like very much to pull down a copy of EditAda, but "Wash U archive"
and "CICA (Indiana) archive" are not sufficiently meaningful to me.

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[cis.ohio-state.edu!news.sei.cmu.edu!ajpo.sei.cmu.edu!wellerd]

In article <1993May12.142938.17631@mksol.dseg.ti.com> strohm@mksol.dseg.ti.com 
(john r strohm) writes:
>In article <1993May11.212503.5711@sei.cmu.edu> wellerd@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (David
 Weller) writes:
>
>>Sounds like you'd like to use EditAda, a Windows-based editor aimed
>>at Ada developers.  It's a shareware product available via anonymous
>>ftp from Wash U archive or from the CICA (Indiana) archive.
>
>David, for those of us who are not quite as net-literate as you are, could
>you please post:
>
>   exact net name  foo.bar.baz.edu
>   exact directory /user/waldo/barbar
>   exact filename(s) to transfer
>
>I would like very much to pull down a copy of EditAda, but "Wash U archive"
>and "CICA (Indiana) archive" are not sufficiently meaningful to me.

*Blush*  OK, I'll 'fess up:
Washington University:
ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu, look in pub/editada directory

CICA:
ftp ftp.cica.indiana.edu (look in pub/pc/win3/uploads)


The file name is EDITADA.ZIP (or was it ADAEDIT.ZIP?).  Be SURE
to set your file type to binary.  I've had one complaint that
the file had errors, but I haven't been able to verify that yet.
I guess you can send any other complaints to
me, since the author doesn't have an internet account yet.  I'll
pass them along to him.
-- 
-Comments above aren't neceessarily the opinion of the SEI, AJPO, or CAE-Link-
David Weller  |  Have you hugged your DRAGOON lately?
----I'm the Ultimate International Masochist: I speak Ada AND Esperanto!-----

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[olivea!charnel!rat!zeus!cymbal.calpoly.edu!jplee]

And then tp923021@fir.canberra.edu.au (ben elliston) quoth:
=> Organization: Compact Solutions, Canberra ACT Australia
=> 
=>  > A colleague of mind used both Meridian and Alsys
=>  > together in a
=>  > project and preferred to use Meridian's ACE to develop
=>  > the code, but
=>  > perferred Alsys code generation for the final product.
=>  >  I'd like to
=>  > hear the opinion of others.
=> 
=> Sounds like I'd prefer Alsys!  At the moment, I prefer to
=> run Meridian from batch files - use QEdit or Borland C's
=> editor to write the code and a macro to run the compiler on
=> the command line and re-open the result file to check for
=> compilation errors.  Seems quite good - I hate ACE's editor!

I have to concurr with these observations.  I had a heck of a time getting
the ACE editor to work for me, so now I've gone to a 50-column multiple
windows editor (a.k.a. Visual Edit), and I've written a slew of batch files
to do the compiling on the command line.

-- 
Jason Lee  jplee@cymbal.calpoly.edu  jlee@cash.busfac.calpoly.edu    SF Giants
e ^ i*pi + 1 = 0    The most beautiful equation in mathematics.    Magic Number
:
For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these:             130
     "It might have been."           John Greenleaf Whittier       (20-13   1st
)

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[Michael Feldman]

In article <1993May12.125136.27788@sei.cmu.edu> wellerd@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (David
 Weller) writes:
>>I would like very much to pull down a copy of EditAda, but "Wash U archive"
>>and "CICA (Indiana) archive" are not sufficiently meaningful to me.
>
>*Blush*  OK, I'll 'fess up:
>Washington University:
>ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu, look in pub/editada directory
>
>CICA:
>ftp ftp.cica.indiana.edu (look in pub/pc/win3/uploads)
>
>
>The file name is EDITADA.ZIP (or was it ADAEDIT.ZIP?).  Be SURE
>to set your file type to binary.  I've had one complaint that
>the file had errors, but I haven't been able to verify that yet.
>I guess you can send any other complaints to
>me, since the author doesn't have an internet account yet.  I'll
>pass them along to him.

I ftp-ed the file and downloaded it to my PC using binary transfer. It
unzipped just fine and looks like a pretty decent piece of work.
It's shareware; it'll cost you $50. to keep using it. If you are a
serious Ada coder it'll probably be worth the money.

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman
co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee

Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052 USA
(202) 994-5253 (voice)
(202) 994-5296 (fax)
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)

"The most important thing is to be sincere, 
and once you've learned how to fake that, you've got it made." 
-- old show-business adage
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[dog.ee.lbl.gov!overload.lbl.gov!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.o]

In article <1993May12.125136.27788@sei.cmu.edu> wellerd@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (David
 Weller) writes:
> I've had one complaint that
>the file had errors, but I haven't been able to verify that yet.

I got it from CICA and encountered no errors.  Played with it a little
bit.  Haven't found any lies in the blurb, yet.

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland.]

In article <1993May12.174737.170509@zeus.calpoly.edu>, jplee@cymbal.calpoly.edu
 (Jason Lee) writes:
|> And then tp923021@fir.canberra.edu.au (ben elliston) quoth:
|> => Organization: Compact Solutions, Canberra ACT Australia
   [stuff deleted]
|> => the command line and re-open the result file to check for
|> => compilation errors.  Seems quite good - I hate ACE's editor!
                                              --------------------
I am surprised at the number of criticisms of the ACE environment
that I have recently seen on the net.  Maybe I shouldn't be, but
I heard the same type of criticism several months ago at a SIGCSE 
conference.  The problem with ACE is its initial configuration is
a little unusual -- for example if I place the cursor in the middle
of a line and hit return it doesn't break the line at that point.

However, if you take you time and customize the interface and
customize the language tokens you can fine tune it to work the way
you want to work (within reason).  I'd suggest you take the time
to fine tune it first -- that's why I do my code generation with
ACE, then move to a production quality compiler later.  I think the
vendor has made a mistake with the ACE configuration file they
send with the system -- don't you make a mistake by shortchanging
yourself.  Fine tune it to your specs. and the way you want to work.

-- 
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  John (Jack) Beidler				                   |
|  Prof. of Computer Science Internet: BEIDLER@JAGUAR.UOFS.EDU     |
|  University of Scranton              beidler@guinness.cs.uofs.edu|
|  Scranton, PA 18510	     
|                                                                  |
|          Phone: (717) 941-7446	 FAX:   (717) 941-4250     |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+

Re: Ada compiler for the IBM PC

[hubcap!ncrcae!ncrhub2!ncrgw2!psinntp!witch!mlb!mbayern]

 
>
>Sounds like you'd like to use EditAda, a Windows-based editor aimed
>at Ada developers.  It's a shareware product available via anonymous
>ftp from Wash U archive or from the CICA (Indiana) archive.
>
>Shameless plug is now over.  Back to the usual rabble.... :-)
>

Is this the same as EditAda I got last week from CLMFORUM on
Compu$erve?  If so it doesn't work (on my machine machine
anyway).  It would always give an Actor (huh??) error message 'out
of disk space'.  Since I've got over 50M free on this thing I don't
think it is really out of space.  Any ideas?  How about a phone
number so we can talk about it?

Mark Bayern

------------------------------
37741040@Isis.MsState.Edu> raj2@Isis.MsState.Edu (rex allan jones) writes:
>	Could someone please point me in the direction of a metrics package
>to compute McCabe's Cyclomatic Complexity for Ada programs?

Logiscope, from Verilog.
Or AdaDL, from SSD (?)
Or check the Ada Software Repository for something free.

Somone else (I hate "vi") wrote:
>Not that this answers your question, but since you bring it up :)
>
>Who is using McCabe, and why? What values are construed as "acceptable",
>"requires further investigation", and "this code is rejected"? How
>were these values derived? Enquiring minds want to know...

McCabe scores are not by themselves a very useful indication of Ada quality.
However, they can be of some use.  When someone hands me 2500 lines of 
code written by the guy that just quit, I look first at the routines with the
highest McCabe scores.  Almost always, if the score is over twenty, I can 
bring it down to 15 or less with some thoughtful re-design.  Not everyone
can make sense out of spaghetti code like that, so I see it as a "service" to
those that come after me--even if the code was already meeting its requirements
(of course I keep the old version for safety :-)  )

As far as what the values SHOULD be:  I have had to work on code written by
many other people.  Consequently I have a good idea of who writes "good stuff"
and who writes "bad stuff"  So I can get a list of the McCabe scores for all
of Fred's units in one list, all of Frieda's in another, etc. and compare.
The averages are usually QUITE different.

Wes G.

P.S. One thing McCabe doesn't show is what I call "hidden" complexity.
Hidden, because it doesn't show on a flow chart or path graph.  This kind of
complexity is produced by a technique more than one of my former colleagues
was fond of:  That of declaring lots of "flag" variables, and using them to
control branching at a point far away from where they were set.  I'd like
to see someone come up with a McCabe-like metric where if dotted lines are
drawn on a control graph connecting the setting of one of these flags with
all tests that depend on that setting, the metric would be affected by 
these lines and their nodes.  Whew! What's the complexity metric of that last
sentence?!?!?