[Info-vax] [OT] Programming languages, was: Re: Long uptime cut short by Hurricane Sandy

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <keh5hd$p3p$1 at dont-email.me>,
	Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
> On 2013-02-01, Bill Gunshannon <billg999 at cs.uofs.edu> wrote:
>> In article <kegcsp$nke$3 at dont-email.me>,
>> 	Simon Clubley <clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP> writes:
>>> On 2013-02-01, VAXman-  @SendSpamHere.ORG <VAXman- at SendSpamHere.ORG> wrote:
>>>> In article <an0jjrFduj7U1 at mid.individual.net>, billg999 at cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) writes:
>>>>
>>>>>I've seen more comments in COBOL than in Ada.  Does that make COBOL a
>>>>>better language for writing an F16 Flight Control System?
>>>>
>>>> Does that make Ada a better language for writing a financial application?
>>>>  
>>> 
>>> Actually, Ada probably _is_ a better language than COBOL for writing
>>> financial applications. :-)
>>
>> Not a chance.  It is actually debatable that Ada is a better language
>> for any application.  If it had stuck to its original goals, maybe
>> but once it became a mouse designed by committee all bets were off.
>>
> 
> You just have to make sure you stay with the core set of features and only
> use the additional features if you need them.

I think you missed my point.  Ada was ruined when the first release
came out because too many people had to stick their fingers in the pie.  :-)
Always remember one important factor.  Originally it was primarily a
Dept. of the Air Force project.  When it was completed and the DOD
mandated the use of Ada the first one to refuse was, you guessed it,
the Dept. of the Air Force.  Who, I understand, still uses JOVIAL.  :-)

> 
> My experience is with Ada 95; I have not bothered looking at any of the
> later versions as I have not yet seen anything I really need in them.

Once you get by the ambiguities, it's OK, I guess.

> 
> BTW, sometimes I go looking for new languages which can be used for real
> time embedded programming on the typical boards available today and have
> been designed to be safer than C.

What about Safe C? :-)

> 
> I've come across multiple versions of Oberon, Modula 2/3, and Pascal and
> out of this list Ada still seems more viable for this (when you want
> something more than C) than those languages.

I always wanted to take a version of Unix and rewrite it in Ada.  It
would be interesting to see if it could be done thus removing all of
the dangers inherent in badly written C but still being able to run
efficiently enough to still be usable.

> 
> Yes, I know about C++ :-), but I have decided not to go down that path
> for my own embedded projects. What is been taught by universities as
> Ada's replacement these days ?

What day is this?  Whatever language has found itself in vogue becomes
the golden boy of the academic world.  Fortran -> Pascal -> Ada -> Java ->
With a little Modula thrown in along the way.  No telling what comes
next as there is seldom much logic in the choice.

bill

-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>