Re: ADA Popularity Discussion Request

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic.brenta@insalien.org>]

 (Keith H Duggar) writes:
> Also, I mentioned pointers not because he had mentioned them but
> rather because I was trying to think of "performance" related
> features.

As Marin mentioned, performance is not a good reason to use access
types; the compiler chooses how to pass parameters (by value, by
reference, or in registers), and you can trust it to make the best
decision.  The language rules also allow you to force by-reference
parameter passing without using access types (e.g. with limited
types).

In object-oriented programming, you also do not need pointers to do
dispatching of subprograms.  Tagged types (the Ada equivalent of a C++
class) are always passed by reference, too, without any explicit
pointers.

You use access types primarily when you build dynamic data structures
like linked lists.

> Excellent on both accounts! I look forward to seeing what comes out
> of the the new standard. And is this the GNAT compiler you are
> referring to? Would that be a good choice me to get a first taste of
> Ada?

Yes, I was alluding to GNAT.  And if you'll allow me another of my
customary shameless plugs here, I'd suggest you try Debian [1] as your
development platform.  One of the problems people face when they try
Ada is that they have to hunt the Internet to find compilers,
libraries and documentation, and that they sometimes have to compile
everything by hand.  Debian solves that for you; with "apt-get" you
can install about 1 million lines of code's worth of Ada software, all
pre-compiled and configured for you.  If you use Windows, my friend
Stéphane Rivière has a similar distribution called AIDE [2,3] waiting
for you.

(end of shameless plug :) )

[1] http://www.debian.org
[2] http://eig.unige.ch/lii/Aide.htm
[3] http://stephane.rochebrune.org

Oh BTW, are you aware of the main Ada portals?  They'll get you to
a wealth of documentation, software and info.

[4] http://www.adaic.org
[5] http://www.adapower.org
[6] http://www.adaworld.com
[7] http://libre.act-europe.fr

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.