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From: "Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: How to get Ada to ?cross the chasm??
Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 16:09:01 -0500
Organization: JSA Research & Innovation
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Xref: reader02.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:52292
Date: 2018-05-11T16:09:01-05:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

"Niklas Holsti" <niklas.holsti@tidorum.invalid> wrote in message 
news:fll3dmF2i4fU1@mid.individual.net...
...
> > and everyone uses that scheme today.
>
> Some do, some don't.

Right. Janus/Ada uses a variation of the library scheme (it long predates 
the GNAT "source-based" design), and the Rational compiler (available these 
days from PTC) also uses a strong library design.

The Intermetrics compiler and its derivitives also use a GNAT-like 
"source-based" design.

But that's virtually irrelevant for a primarily Ada program. Every Ada 
compiler comes with a make-like tool that builds programs, typically just 
given the name of the main subprogram and some options. No need in Ada for 
complex make-files; all of that is required and managed by the language.

The original vision for the Janus/Ada eco-system included compilers for 
other languages (C and assembler at a minimum) that could implement Ada 
package bodies. That allowed complete interoperation between Ada and C and 
assembler code, without losing the advantages of Ada's unit management.

As a practical matter, though, that mechanism didn't allow direct use of 
existing C code, and thus the C part was never built.

The alternative of bringing the disadvantages of the unstructured C method 
to Ada never crossed my mind -- that would have been going backwards in 
terms of ease of program construction.

                                                             Randy.