ian@loral.UUCP (Ian Kaplan) (01/03/85)
I would like to thank all of you who sent me mail in
response to my net note asking about Ada compilers for
personal computers (e.g., IBM PCs or Fat Macs). As I
had feared there are not a lot of Ada compilers avail-
able for computers this small. Below I have summarized
the information from my mail. Please forgive me if I
have misunderstood or mangled the information in your
letter.
JANUS/Ada from RR Software
The most recommended compiler was the JANUS/Ada compiler
from RR Software. Their address is
RR Software
P.O. Box 1512
Madison, Wisconsin
53701
(608) 224-6436
RR's JANUS/Ada compiler is supposed to be fairly fast,
especially when a RAM disk or winchester disk is used.
The RR Ada system comes with an optimizer and a linker
which automatically linkes separately compiled Ada
modules. Several people mentioned that RR was in the
process of perfecting their Ada implementation and that
they might be going for validation in '85 or '86. At
the current time RR Ada is lacking in a number of
features including:
tasking
generics
exception handling
multi-dimensional arrays (ouch!)
Ada standard strings
operator overloading
I have not checked with RR, but my correspondents told
me that the price for the RR Ada compiler is in the
range of $500. Site licenses are available and there
are discounts for educational institutions.
TeleSoft micro-Ada
Several people also mentioned the TeleSoft Ada compiler
which runs on smaller machines and is an offshoot of the
UCSD P-system. I have not seen literature on this com-
piler for a couple of years, but the last information I
saw on it described it as a micro-Ada compiler. As I
recall this compiler was the result of TeleSoft's first
attempt to develop an Ada compiler. The Ada products
for larger systems are the result of a fresh start,
which followed this compiler. The address I was given
for the TeleSoft office handling this product is:
TeleSoft
81 Louise Road
Belmont, MA
(619) 484-1874
Other Versions of Ada
Verdix has an Ada compiler for the IBM PC. They are
going for a full Ada implementation for the Intel 80286
processor (IBM AT).
A company called ALSYS is also supposed to be comming
out with an Ada compiler which compiles something near
full Ada.
There is also a version of Ada known as Supersoft Ada
which runs under CP/M and MSDOS. In the words of my
correspondent Supersoft Ada is "a real dog -- avoid it
at all costs! It is basically a version of Supersoft's
Pascal". (I am just passing on what has been written, I
have no experience with any Supersoft product.)
Commentary
Ada is a huge language and I do not believe that it
would be viable without all of those DoD giga-bucks.
Although Ada is not without its good features, there is
no excuse for its size. In my opinion Modula-2 would
win hands down over Ada but for two things:
1. There are only a few Modula compilers available.
Of these, only one, in my opinion, is worth pur-
chasing - the Logitech Modula compiler. My hope is
that Borland (the authors of Turbo Pascal) will
come out with a good Modula compiler at a reason-
able price.
2. Modula is not a well standardized language as Ada
is. Prof. Wirth's book on Modula is unclear is
several areas and the standard module library
defined is not sufficient for "real programming".
Sometimes I hear that Ada is the language of the future.
I think that Ada has taken block structured languages
about as far as they can go. I think that the meaning-
ful language research will concentrate on object
oriented languages (e.g., offshoots of SmallTalk) and
data flow languages.
Well time to get off the soap box. Thanks again to
those of you who wrote.
Ian Kaplan
Loral Data Flow Group
Loral Instrumentation
USENET: ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdcc6!loral!ian
ARPA: sdcc6!loral!ian@UCSD
Mail: 8401 Aero Dr.
San Diego, CA
92123
(619) 560-5888 x4812
Disclaimer: The content of this note are the opinion of
the author and not necessarily held by the
author's employer. Ada is a trademark of
the DoD, UCSD P-system is a trademark of
the Regents of the Univ. of Calif., IBM and
IBM PC are trademarks of International
Business Machines.