Prev: SPARK again : for-loop vs single loop - a strange case
Next: Spark, pragma
From: Mike Sieweke on 27 May 2010 22:31
In article <4bfe71ba$0$7661$9b4e6d93(a)newsspool1.arcor-online.net>,
Georg Bauhaus <rm.dash-bauhaus(a)futureapps.de> wrote:

> Another finding is a validated Ada compiler for BS2000 by Siemens,
> as reported in Computerwoche 1987-07-03:
>
> (Translation, ad hoc)
>
> "The compiler, made of modules, is written in the programming
> language Ada. According to the Munichians, it may be ported
> to other computers or retargetted to emit different binary code.
> A library is managing interfacing information for the separate
> translation modules.

In an interesting coincidence, I just came across an ad for Alsys
Ada in the June 1986 Byte Magazine. Here's a quote from the ad:

"The Alsys Ada compiler for the PC AT is not only validated,
it's actually written in Ada. And produces code so efficient
it executes faster than C or Pascal on tested benchmarks."

The compiler cost $3000 (!), but that includes a 4 MB memory
upgrade card. Times have changed just a bit.


-- Mike Sieweke
-- "Just a bit of harmless brain alteration, that's all..."
From: AdaMagica on 28 May 2010 01:01
On 27 Mai, 15:20, Georg Bauhaus <rm.dash-bauh...(a)futureapps.de> wrote:
> Another finding is a validated Ada compiler for BS2000 by Siemens,
> as reported in Computerwoche 1987-07-03:

I had the pleasure to do actual work with this compiler.

I had known Ada since 1983 when I had taken a programming course. I
liked the language from the beginning - it had all I was missing from
Pascal, e.g. attributes like 'First. My daily work though was a
FORTRAN Monte Carlo simulation, and I direly missed all the nice
features Pascal (and Ada) provided. And imagine: The program was still
on punched cards! I had to take a heavy pile of a few thousand cards
to the dispatcher each time we ran it. But over time I could convince
my boss to store it electronically and work on it with an editor
(showing just 5 or so lines on a tiny screen).

In my free time, I wrote just for fun a few Ada programs (which I
could not run because of lack of a compiler).

When I left that company, I was lucky to find a job where I had to
translate an embedded real-time PEARL program for simulation purposes
to Ada. This was this brand new Siemens compiler we used, and a few
times I put my fingers into gory wounds or black holes and went to
Siemens to see the compiler writers in their cubicles (a bunch of nice
guys who liked to see their product put under stress). But overall, it
was a very fine product with nice and helpful compiler messages.
Sadly, Siemens later abandoned the compiler (put it right into the
bin) for I don't know which other language, for the great dismay of
the team.

Siemens had also translated the Ada RM into German, and I have it
still. You can imagine such a translation is a tremendously demanding
work. No wonder there is no such translation for Ada 95 or later.
Within Ada Germany (I am a founder member), we tried to set up a
translation table for the technical terms of Ada 95, but this was
never finished.
 | 
Pages: 1
Prev: SPARK again : for-loop vs single loop - a strange case
Next: Spark, pragma