Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[Charles Lindsey]

	Announcement of goodies available by ftp from
		ftp.cs.man.ac.uk:/pub/chl/LEDGER

This is an attempt to demonstrate that free software written in Ada is a
practical proposition. It is based on the free AdaEd interpreted Ada system
available from NYU.

1.	The Ledger program. This is an accounting system using conventional
	double-entry bookeeping, with a nice WIMP interface.

2.	X/Intrinsics/OLIT binding for AdaEd. Sorry, the OLIT bit is not
	free, but bindings for other toolkits could easily be added by the
	adventurous.

3.	Purgatory. A package of UNIX interface routines for AdaEd. Direct
	access to UNIX read/write, forks, pipes, etc.

4.	Various bug-fixes for AdaEd; also the wherewithal to compile it
	under Solaris 2.n.


Generally, each item in the above list requires the ones below it in the
list (so hopefully my intrinsics/OLIT package will be of use, even if you do
not want my Ledger program).


The ftp directory /pub/chl/LEDGER contains sub-directories for all the items
listed, each with a README explaining what is on offer, what it requires,
where to get it (notably AdaEd itself), etc. The whole lot carries a GNU
Copyleft.

Retrieve and enjoy!


Note Followup to comp.lang.ada.

-- 
Charles H. Lindsey -------------------------------------------------------------
           At Home, doing my own thing.           Internet: chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk
Voice: +44 161 437 4506                           Janet:    chl@uk.ac.man.cs.clw
Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave., CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.   UUCP:     mucs!clerew!chl

Re: Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[Michael Feldman]

In article <Cw6LCr.4LK@clw.cs.man.ac.uk>,
Charles Lindsey <chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>	Announcement of goodies available by ftp from
>		ftp.cs.man.ac.uk:/pub/chl/LEDGER
>
>This is an attempt to demonstrate that free software written in Ada is a
>practical proposition. It is based on the free AdaEd interpreted Ada system
>available from NYU.

This is GREAT! Thanks for doing it!

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
NOTE NEW PHONE NUMBER.
"Pork is all that stuff the government gives the other guys."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[Peter Burwood]

In article <35isnu$qce@felix.seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:

> In article <Cw6LCr.4LK@clw.cs.man.ac.uk>,
> Charles Lindsey <chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk> wrote:
> >
> >	Announcement of goodies available by ftp from
> >		ftp.cs.man.ac.uk:/pub/chl/LEDGER
> >
> >This is an attempt to demonstrate that free software written in Ada is a
> >practical proposition. It is based on the free AdaEd interpreted Ada system
> >available from NYU.
> 
> This is GREAT! Thanks for doing it!
> 
> Mike Feldman

Seconded.

Now a question...

I recently ported Ada/Ed 1.11.0a to the Acorn range of computers(*)
running RISC OS and I mailed adaed@cs.nyu.edu to register the port. All I
received back from two emails was what looked like an automated
acknowledgement. This led me to the, perhaps erroneous, conclusion that
Ada/Ed was no longer supported or developed.

I would love to hear that Ada/Ed is still maintained since I have some bugs
to report which I would like to have fixed.

Following Charles' message I picked up the newer version of Ada/Ed (1.11.2)
and I have managed to port this also (a couple of days work). I also notice
version 1.11.2 doesn't have the VAX/VMS or Amiga ports included. This isn't
really a problem, just an observation, but I wonder whether the changes for
the Acorn port can be included in the main distribution and whether they
will stay once put in ?

Finally, is there a newer address for Ada/Ed communication, or do I need to
wait for GAS to support Acorn machines (soon I hope) and then use GNAT ?

regards,
Pete
-- Email: pjb@arcangel.demon.co.uk

(*) The Acorn range of computers use the ARM RISC processor and brought
    RISC processing power to the desktop in 1987, 7 years before Apple.

Re: Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[Robert Dewar]

NYU no longer supports Ada/Ed, this support is being done (very ably with
all sorts of nice goodies added) by Mike Feldman, so you should contact him
regarding Ada/Ed.

Re: Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[Michael Feldman]

In article <19940922.224250.87@arcangel.demon.co.uk>,
Peter Burwood <adaed@arcangel.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>I recently ported Ada/Ed 1.11.0a to the Acorn range of computers(*)
>running RISC OS and I mailed adaed@cs.nyu.edu to register the port. All I
>received back from two emails was what looked like an automated
>acknowledgement. This led me to the, perhaps erroneous, conclusion that
>Ada/Ed was no longer supported or developed.

>I would love to hear that Ada/Ed is still maintained since I have some bugs
>to report which I would like to have fixed.

I wish I had good news for you, but I don't, really. NYU is really
tied up with GNAT, and the funding we had at GW was to build the
IDE's that resulted in GW-Ada/Ed, DOS and Mac versions.

We should think of Ada/Ed in its current incarnations as a test of the
conjecture that freely distributable Ada compilers can make a big
difference in the acceptance of the language.

The steady e-mail I get, from across the US and around the world, tells
me that we were on target in doing and distributing these "products".

[snip]

>Finally, is there a newer address for Ada/Ed communication, or do I need to
>wait for GAS to support Acorn machines (soon I hope) and then use GNAT ?

Well, we are the nearest thing to a support site. If people report
bug _fixes_ to us, we will make an effort to apply them to the
various versions. We prefer to distribute our stuff via PAL, as
it's central, mirrored, and much more tuned for ftp than our boxes
here at GW.

NYU is unlikely to give Ada/Ed any attention; they have (properly,
IMHO) moved on to GNAT and haven't got funds or time for Ada/Ed.

Ada/Ed, and especially the "packaged" DOS and Mac versions that
combine NYU's good work with our own, makes for a really nice
educational package. But in the end, it's a "toy" that runs out
of steam pretty fast.

We will grab the Ada/Ed "added value" described in the original
post and play with it over here. Perhaps we can be talked into
trying to harmonize some of the ports, but we are doing it as a
hobby at this point, without funding, so we're obviously not
able to push it to the top of the to-do list.

IMHO, our best overall policy (as a community) is to consider the 
free-software concept proved, and move on to building nice tools for GNAT.

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
NOTE NEW PHONE NUMBER.
"Pork is all that stuff the government gives the other guys."
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Free Software using AdaEd (Announcement)

[tmoran]

> consider the free-software concept proved
For those of us who came in late, could you please state exactly
the hypothesis that has been proved true?