g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ((George C. Harrison) Norfolk State University) (01/28/91)
We are SERIOUSLY considering a lab of AMIGA3000UX's but would like to also have
an Ada compiler to extend some of our faculty and student research. gcc and cc
may be fine for some folks, but some of our work is strictly Ada-based.
Does anyone know of any development efforts in Ada compilers for this computer?
Since the operating system is essentially generic, it would "seem" that
developing an Ada compiler would be relatively simple IF there is enough
interest.
Truth, rumors, outrageous rumors, etc. will be fine.
(No, Ada flames, please. I can "duke" it out for Ada with the best of them!)
8-)
-- George C. Harrison -------------- || -- My opinions and observations --
---|| Professor of Computer Science || -- Only. -------------------------
---|| Norfolk State University, ---- || ----------- Pray for Peace -------
---|| 2401 Corprew Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23504 -----------------------
----------------- INTERNET: g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ---------------------dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) (01/28/91)
In article <549.27a32b94@vger.nsu.edu> g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ((George C. Harrison) Norfolk State University) writes: |We are SERIOUSLY considering a lab of AMIGA3000UX's but would like to also have |an Ada compiler to extend some of our faculty and student research. gcc and cc |may be fine for some folks, but some of our work is strictly Ada-based. | |Does anyone know of any development efforts in Ada compilers for this computer? | |Since the operating system is essentially generic, it would "seem" that |developing an Ada compiler would be relatively simple IF there is enough |interest. | |Truth, rumors, outrageous rumors, etc. will be fine. | |(No, Ada flames, please. I can "duke" it out for Ada with the best of them!) | | 8-) Well, developing an Ada compiler may not be as easy as you make out. I have heard that calling a compiler an "Ada compiler" requires that you pass a DoD validation suite. They don't want a buch of Ada "clones", subsets and dialects floating around and obscuring the language. As for any implementations out there, I don't think there are any. This question comes up periodically in the comp.sys.amiga groups, but I have never seen an answer. There is a yacc-able grammar on one of Fred Fish's disks, so if your planning on rolling your own Ada-alike, that would probably be the place to start. |-- George C. Harrison -------------- || -- My opinions and observations -- |---|| Professor of Computer Science || -- Only. ------------------------- |---|| Norfolk State University, ---- || ----------- Pray for Peace ------- |---|| 2401 Corprew Avenue, Norfolk, Virginia 23504 ----------------------- |----------------- INTERNET: g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ---------------------
jgay@digi.lonestar.org (john gay) (01/28/91)
From article <549.27a32b94@vger.nsu.edu>, by g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ((George C. Harrison) Norfolk State University): > Does anyone know of any development efforts in Ada compilers for this computer > > Truth, rumors, outrageous rumors, etc. will be fine. During the GNU BOF at Usenix last Tuesday (1/22) someone (sorry, didn't hear his name) said that they were working on a GNU version of ada. Have no idea about how far along he is or when it is expected out, etc. He was also working on a port of GCC to the ibm 370 so it sounded like he was very busy. You might try posting to one of the gnu news groups or to an ada group (is there one?) and asking if anyone has better/more info. john gay.
djohnson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) (01/29/91)
>In article <549.27a32b94@vger.nsu.edu> g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ((George C. Harrison) Norfolk State University) writes: >Since the operating system is essentially generic, it would "seem" that >developing an Ada compiler would be relatively simple IF there is enough >interest. Well, for what it's worth... Telesoft's early Ada compilers (don't know about now) were written on top of p-code (pseudo code), so that the porting of a compiler mostly involved just porting the p-code interpreter. And there was definately a "generic" 68000 compiler also. Probably a big problem is that most people selling Ada charge big bucks, and may be unready to support the larger and less profitable world of single user computers. (check out the difference in price between VMS compilers for different computer sizes) Of course, I know some people who would be perfectly willing to use inexpensive unvalidated Ada compilers, or even not-quite-Ada, since then development could be done on workstations, etc. GNU could do this, but I expect they'd rather write a COBOL compiler before an Ada one. -- Darin Johnson djohnson@ucsd.edu - Political correctness is Turing undecidable.
jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup) (01/29/91)
In article <743@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave P. Schaumann) writes: >Well, developing an Ada compiler may not be as easy as you make out. I have >heard that calling a compiler an "Ada compiler" requires that you pass a >DoD validation suite. They don't want a buch of Ada "clones", subsets and >dialects floating around and obscuring the language. There's at least one company that has considered it (rbrukhart on BIX, I forget the company name). They were considering doing it after they finished their Sun port. Now that the UX is out, they may well actually do it. -- Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering. {uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com BIX: rjesup The compiler runs Like a swift-flowing river I wait in silence. (From "The Zen of Programming") ;-)
jet@karazm.math.uh.edu ("J. Eric Townsend") (01/29/91)
I've added comp.lang.ada, please keep this in mind when you followup. In article <16098@sdcc6.ucsd.edu> djohnson@beowulf.ucsd.edu (Darin Johnson) writes: >Of course, I know some people who would be perfectly willing to use >inexpensive unvalidated Ada compilers, or even not-quite-Ada, since >then development could be done on workstations, etc. Roll your own. Ada is close enough to Pascal (really!) that it's pretty straightforward to pirate across a good Pascal compiler. In my undergraduate compilers class, we had to generate assembly for an ada-subset language (missing all the thread-type stuff and difficult-to-code user niceties, etc). In the space of a semester, I was able to manage function calls, exceptions (or whatever ada calls them) and a couple of other things. An experienced compiler person should need only 6-12 months, I'd *guess*. I actually have considered writing a ada-subset (keep in mind that "Ada" is legally protected to the point that you can't sell an "Ada compiler") compiler, but I can't justify the time expenditure. Ada-flames to /dev/null, I really don't care to argue about Ada good or bad. It's just another language. -- J. Eric Townsend - jet@uh.edu - bitnet: jet@UHOU - vox: (713) 749-2120 "It is the cunning of form to veil itself continually in the evidence of content. It is the cunning of the code to veil itself and to produce itself in the obviousness of value." -- Baudrillard
wolf@cbnewsh.att.com (thomas.wolf) (01/29/91)
Someone from Commodore posted that there would be a formal/lengthy description of the A3000 next week...That was two weeks ago -- did I miss it? If so, could someone e-mail it to me? Thanks, Tom -- +-------------------------------------+ "Stupid" questions are better than | Thomas Wolf | (201) 615-4789 | no questions at all. No answer is | Bell Labs, NJ | wolf@mink.att.com | better than a stupid one. +-------------------------------------+
xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) (01/29/91)
g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu ((George C. Harrison) Norfolk State University) writes: > We are SERIOUSLY considering a lab of AMIGA3000UX's but would like to > also have an Ada compiler to extend some of our faculty and student > research. gcc and cc may be fine for some folks, but some of our work > is strictly Ada-based. > Does anyone know of any development efforts in Ada compilers for this > computer? > Since the operating system is essentially generic, it would "seem" > that developing an Ada compiler would be relatively simple IF there is > enough interest. > Truth, rumors, outrageous rumors, etc. will be fine. > (No, Ada flames, please. I can "duke" it out for Ada with the best of > them!) Considering that you're looking at a vanilla sysVr4 operating system, _any_ 68000 family targeted Ada compiler that runs under sysVr4 should be immediately portable _in_ _binary_ to the Amiga, as long as it doesn't get cute with its original machine's architecture, which would be really unnecessary stupidity for a compiler! Considering the scarsity of sysVr4 implementations out of beta test right now, you might have to wait a few months, but I wouldn't let lack of a future Ada compiler act as a stumbling block; the A3000UX is pretty visible as a target platform, and there are already lots of 68000 family targeted and hosted Ada compilers written and validated; porting one to a Unix system should be a snap. Kent, the man from xanth. <xanthian@Zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <xanthian@well.sf.ca.us> -- Oh, yeah; Hi George! Just noticed whom I was answering.
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) (02/01/91)
In article <1991Jan29.051947.27478@lavaca.uh.edu> jet@karazm.math.uh.edu ("J. Eric Townsend") writes: > >>Of course, I know some people who would be perfectly willing to use >>inexpensive unvalidated Ada compilers, or even not-quite-Ada, since >>then development could be done on workstations, etc. > >I actually have considered writing a ada-subset (keep in mind that >"Ada" is legally protected to the point that you can't sell >an "Ada compiler") compiler, but I can't justify the time expenditure. I think your information on this may be outdated. The government has allowed the trademark to lapse; the essence of it is if you want to sell unvalidated Ada and I want to buy it, Uncle Sam shouldn't stop us from making a deal. _Validated_ Ada is required for _government_ software, but for nongovernment work the government does not get involved any more. Ada is _no longer_ "legally protected"; the trademark lapsed in 1988. IMHO, the government did the right thing. Mike Feldman