pattis@june.cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) (10/19/88)
The introductory courses here at UW have switched from Modula-2 to Ada as of this Autumn. In previous years, my students have bought about 60 Logitech student packages per year (at $50) for their home use. Many have PC to AT class machines with 640K RAM and a hard disk. We expect Ada to trickle up to our upper division classes (data structures, compilers - we already use Fischer/LeBlanc, graphics), and we would like to have these students do as much computing as possible on their home machines. We have purchased DEC-Ada for our computer center's 8600, which with our standard load tends to compile at about 800 lpm (real time minutes, not CPU minutes). The PC Ada compiler vendors want to avoid single sales and go the site license route. Their prices seem high but reasonable (when compared with the $3K/year my students spend, and the price of a single package purchase) but they need their money up front, in a lump sum. I'm trying to locate some deep pockets, and I believe that I will eventually succeed. Based on this belief, I'd like to hear about (1) experiences with Meridian and Janus Ada, or any other PC compilers; the recent AdaIC lists a company named AETECH, with some validated PC compilers, but there is no address/phone number. (2) experience with negotiating site licenses, or any other relevant information about them. I'd like to repost whatever information I receive, so if you do not want your reply reposted, please say so. Rich Pattis
pattis@june.cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) (10/19/88)
I have already seen the reviews in Computer Language (Vol. 3, No. 12 and Vol. 4, No. 1) and in IEEE Computer (September 88).