hansen (05/12/83)
I have recieved several messages from people interested in a gateway between the ARPAnet INFO-ADA@MIT-MC list and net.lang.ada, but none from anyone who can start/maintain such a link. I recieve INFO-ADA through our CSnet link, which has quite significant delays, so I'm not sure that we could form a reliable gateway at this site. I'll also mention that the INFO-ADA people may not wish to have a two-way link, given the uncontrollable behavior of USEnet. In the meantime, here is a copy of some recent messages from INFO-ADA... Craig Hansen HP Labs ------------------- >From TIKIT@USC-ECLB Mon May 9 15:20:09 1983 Date: 9 May 1983 1119-PDT From: TIKIT@USC-ECLB Received: by HP-VENUS via CSNET; 9 May 1983 15:20:05-PDT (Mon) Received: from MIT-MC.ARPA by udel-relay.ARPA ; 9 May 83 14:28:29 EDT (Mon) Received: from udel-relay.ARPA by rand-relay.ARPA ; 9 May 83 12:12:45 PDT (Mon) To: info-ada@MIT-MC Via: UDel; 9 May 83 15:20-PDT Return-Path: <TIKIT@USC-ECLB> Subject: sequential file updating Sender: TIKIT@USC-ECLB Message-Id: <[USC-ECLB] 9-May-83 11:19:49.TIKIT> Status: R My reading of the ANSI ada manual seems to indicate that there is no facility to append to an already existing sequential file. Can anyone shed some light on this question? John Foreman Tikit at ECLB >From wolf.umass-cs@UDel-Relay Mon May 9 23:08:55 1983 Date: 9 May 83 11:01-EST (Mon) From: Alexander Wolf <wolf.umass-cs@UDel-Relay> Received: by HP-VENUS via CSNET; 9 May 1983 23:08:53-PDT (Mon) Received: from MIT-MC.ARPA by udel-relay.ARPA ; 9 May 83 19:11:09 EDT (Mon) Received: from udel-relay.ARPA by rand-relay.ARPA ; 9 May 83 16:57:05 PDT (Mon) To: info-ada@mit-mc Via: UMASS-CS; 9 May 83 18:58-EDT Via: UDel; 9 May 83 23:08-PDT Return-Path: <wolf%umass-cs.UMASS-CS@UDel-Relay> Subject: Re: programming standards Message-Id: <421394933.1479.hplabs@HP-VENUS> Status: R Isn't it a bit premature to "formalize" coding standards when for all practical purposes there aren't even any compilers for the language? It would seem to me that the concept of standardization is based on the idea that there comes a time, after many years of experience by a wide group of people, when a particular method clearly predominates. Where is that body of experience with Ada? By standardizing too early, won't we being inhibiting the development of a "natural" standard? I can, at least to some extent, see the arguments for standardizing the language definition itself (ah, but what about pragmas?! -- where would we be without loopholes...). But why worry now about imposing other standards such as coding or the IEEE effort at a standard PDL for Ada? Certainly their absence can cause no portability problems as can a non-standard language definition. The "savings" that may be obtained by having to train programmers for only one standard could not possibly outweigh the costs of a poor standard. Alex. >From POURNE@MIT-MC Wed May 11 04:09:47 1983 Date: 11 May 1983 05:58 EDT From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE@MIT-MC> Received: by HP-VENUS via CSNET; 11 May 1983 04:09:45-PDT (Wed) Received: from MIT-MC.ARPA by udel-relay.ARPA ; 11 May 83 06:03:06 EDT (Wed) Received: from udel-relay.ARPA by rand-relay.ARPA ; 11 May 83 03:22:14 PDT (Wed) To: wolf.umass-cs@UDEL-RELAY Via: UDel; 11 May 83 4:09-PDT Return-Path: <POURNE@MIT-MC> Subject: programming standards Cc: INFO-ADA@MIT-MC In-Reply-To: Msg of 9 May 83 11:01-EST (Mon) from Alexander Wolf <wolf.umass-cs at UDel-Relay> Message-Id: <421499386.25879.hplabs@HP-VENUS> Status: R My guess is that it is nowhere NEAR too early to worry about standards; the Pascal experience shows that. Modula-2 may have fairly standard implementations since there are few publishers and they seem actually to be talking to each other BEFORE they publish. I have no real right to opinions on Ada, and perhaps it would be better to wait until there are lots of ways of doing things, then try to "standardize"; but my guess is that this is a losing proposition compared to thinking things through in the first place.. >From Dewayne.Perry@CMU-CS-A Wed May 11 21:01:46 1983 Date: 11 May 1983 1059-EDT (Wednesday) From: Dewayne.Perry@CMU-CS-A (X450DP60) Received: by HP-VENUS via CSNET; 11 May 1983 21:01:43-PDT (Wed) Received: from MIT-MC.ARPA by udel-relay.ARPA ; 11 May 83 16:14:55 EDT (Wed) Received: from udel-relay.ARPA by rand-relay.ARPA ; 11 May 83 13:37:36 PDT (Wed) To: info-ada@mit-mc Via: UDel; 11 May 83 21:01-PDT Return-Path: <Dewayne.Perry@CMU-CS-A> Subject: new book: Ada for Experienced Programmers Message-Id: <11May83.105941.DP60@CMU-CS-A> Status: R Just published: Ada for Experienced Programmers A. Nico Habermann and Dewayne E. Perry Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. Readng, Mass. ISBN 0-201-11481-X $18.95 (paper) Table of Contents: 1. Ada Compared to Pascal 2. Data Encapsulation 3. Array Types 4. Parameterized Types 5. Data Abstraction 6. Function Parameters and Numerics 7. Type Abstraction 8. Recursive Data Structures 9. Sets 10. Variant Records 11. Parallel Computation 12. Classical Scheduling Problems 13. Resource Allocation and Priority Scheduling 14. Data Representation Specifications 15. Interrupts and Low Level IO 16. Parallel Tasks Appendix A. A Scheduling Schema Appendix B. Hints to Solutions Each chapter has the following organization: Problem Statement Language independent problem discussion Presentation of a Pascal solution Presentation of a similar Ada solution, followed by revisions to demonstrate Ada's capabilities Listings of the complete programs Reminders Problems This form is followed for chapters 2 - 12; 13 - appendix A omit the Pascal solution as Pascal has no facilities corresponding to those in Ada. Chapters 1 through 10 deal with the sequential aspects of Ada; Chapters 11 through Appendix A deal with the concurrent aspects os of Ada. The use of packages, private types, generics and exceptions is pervasive throughout the book. Copies will be available at the NCC at Addison-Wesley's booth.