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=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.unit0.net!cyclone03.ams2.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!voer-me.highwinds-media.com!post02.fr7!fx21.fr7.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Brian Drummond Subject: Re: Ada's ranking of popularity at IEEE Spectrum Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <72b1318a-2eb6-4129-af9b-5bcfbb329c5b@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: Pan/0.139 (Sexual Chocolate; GIT bf56508 git://git.gnome.org/pan2) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.49.20.82 X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Trace: 1404723858 62.49.20.82 (Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:04:18 UTC) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:04:18 UTC Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 09:04:18 GMT X-Received-Body-CRC: 3454380693 X-Received-Bytes: 3945 Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:20769 Date: 2014-07-07T09:04:18+00:00 List-Id: On Sun, 06 Jul 2014 20:17:47 -0500, Nasser M. Abbasi wrote: > On 7/6/2014 7:17 PM, Simon Clubley wrote: > >> You can't do that until you have Ada compilers which are as widespread >> as C. >> >> Simon. >> >> > Sorry for basic question, but I thought Ada is now part of gnu gcc (gnat > compiler) > > https://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/GNAT > > And I thought that this mean that everywhere there is gnu gcc, there > will be Ada as well? And since everywhere there is gnu gcc as given in > this list: > > https://gcc.gnu.org/install/specific.html > > There will also be a c compiler, then why would Ada be less available > than C compilers? Because most people building gcc use the configure option --enable-language-=c,c++ instead of --enable-languages=c,c++,ada And most of the binaries for most of the distros are built that way. Ada is offered as an optional extra if you already know about it and specifically ask for it - AND it isn't simply missing The situation is worse where cross-compilers are concerned : very few targets (AVR, occasionally Arm, and (new official target with gcc4.9, and not yet satisfactorily MSP430) are checked with --enable-languages=c,c+ +,ada. I may have missed some; if so, they don't get enough publicity! So you have to build your own. Then gcc's build process is messy, frustrating and buggy as hell, and only the most trodden paths are relatively clear of bugs. (To the extent that people off the path who ask questions are usually simply told : get back on the path and start again). Turning on Ada support takes you off those paths into the weeds, and you will find build failures and bugs you have to wade through to even get the thing to compile. At this point I must say I am impressed with Peter Bigot's old unofficial"mspgcc" front end; it was remarkably trouble free. If you bought or downloaded a set of commercially available tools for your FPGA (cough Actel/Microsemi) they won't even supply source (though it's a well known gcc distribution) and you have to dig it up from the Mentor Graphics website and build it yourself. (This specific target I haven't tried yet) Then having a working compiler you find that you have only just started. In contrast to C builds of gcc where the process tidily accommodates libc and libgcc because other people have set it all up for you - either the Ada RTS won't build for your target or there is no Ada RTS at all, and you have to create one from scratch. (for the MSP430 I adapted the minimal one from the AVR-Ada project. It works well if you don't need any tasking features) > Isn't gnu gcc available everywhere? or may be the gnat part of gcc is > not available everywhere like the c compiler part of gcc is? So ... yes, gnat is available for a suitable definition of available. In practice, no... At this point Ludovic's "put up or shut up" (paraphrasing Dan'l) applies ... if each reader picked one small area and moved it forward, at least people would see SOME Ada happening. We have to start the snowball somewhere. - Brian