Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!crash!telesoft!bruceb From: bruceb@telesoft.UUCP (Bruce Bergman @spot) Newsgroups: comp.lang.modula2 Subject: Re: Modula2 for Apollos and Ada,Modula2 question(s) Message-ID: <519@telesoft.UUCP> Date: Sat, 26-Sep-87 20:56:52 EDT Article-I.D.: telesoft.519 Posted: Sat Sep 26 20:56:52 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 28-Sep-87 01:47:29 EDT References: <281@mv03.ecf.toronto.edu> Organization: TeleSoft, San Diego, CA Lines: 70 In article <281@mv03.ecf.toronto.edu>, (Vince Pugliese) writes: > > One question before I go. Are developers using Modula2 as a > prototyping tool for, if you will, Ada programming? I guess > the reason why ask this is that there seem to be a number of rather > inexpensive Modula2 compilers available thus making this language more > accessible to more users. Another thing is, or was, Modula2 intended > for the development of embedded real-time applications, much like Ada is and was? > > Vince Pugliese > e-mail:apollo@ecf.toronto.edu Well, I don't believe that Modula-2 was INTENDED for average embedded real-time applications, mainly because of it's history. Whether people use it or not (for that type of application) is really the question. And even then, it has some of the same obstacles as Ada for embedded targets. Read a history of Modula-2 in some of the language text books for a feeling of WHY it came into being... Now, as to the OTHER question: I am an Ada developer (both at home and work). I prefer Ada as my development language over any existing language. I use it daily to develop high-level sophisticated systems which often target to embedded systems for contractors that are VERY picky about quality and speed. I TRIED to find a usable Ada for my home (personal) use and was unable to find one at the time (around two years ago). I turned then to Modula-2 as my alternative. I wasn't disappointed, however it wasn't what I wanted either. I have a large application written entirely in Modula-2, consisting of about 11,000 lines of code (not including the ~5,000 lines of runtime code). It was originally written for Logitech's compiler (on the PC), however a new compiler has arrived on the scene that makes Logitech look like a slug in comparison, so it's recently been reworked for that compiler (a menial task). I've toyed with the idea of converting this to Ada (to run on a VAX), however because of some problems (mainly the windowing package doesn't run on VAXen), I've not followed up that course of thought. However my code should be pretty easy to convert to Ada as I use little tricks which make it easier to port to Ada should I desire. These 'tricks' have worked pretty good in other cases. For instance, I did a prototype assembler in Modula-2, took the code to work, changed a few lines of code, and recompiled in our Ada. It didn't run the FIRST time, however after only one session of bug fixing, I was able to write the remainder of the code in Ada and (in turn) refit it to Modula-2 again. Pretty good for portability, I think. Of course, there is always going to be those obscure parts of a program that MAY not convert easily (overloading, fi). I, however, have been fairly pleased with my ability to share the code at work and home. With the advent of some fairly good PC Ada compilers now (Meridian, fi), I would probably use them instead, however even those 'fairly good PC Ada' compilers have problems over large applications. Many of the PC Modula-2 compilers are stable enough to consider writing large applications for, and have the added advantage of being fairly technologically advanced (which is NOT always the case for the PC Ada compilers). bruce bergman -- allegra!\ TeleSoft, Inc. gould9! \ crash!--\ (619) 457-2700 x123 ihnp4! \ \ >--sdcsvax!---->--telesoft!bruceb (Bruce Bergman N7HAW) nosc! / / scgvaxd! / log-hb!--/ 5959 Cornerstone Court West ucbvax! / San Diego, CA. 92121-9891 All expressed opinions belong to "Bill the Cat" or me. :^)