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And then some people are surprised when I tell them that I hate C and C++ even though I'm considered a 'C++ expert'.. Too bad, the DoD didn't have the foresigh

by renox 5y ago

And then some people are surprised when I tell them that I hate C and C++ even though I'm considered a 'C++ expert'.. Too bad, the DoD didn't have the foresight to create/sponsor a Free Ada compiler sooner.. And the lack of interest in Ada (even though there is now a Free compiler) makes me pessimistic for Rust, DasBetterC, Zig, Odin, V.. I hope that I'm wrong though!

pyjarrett 5y ago
> Too bad, the DoD didn't have the foresight to create/sponsor a Free Ada compiler sooner.. The US Air Force supposedly help fund the development of GNAT, the GCC front-end for Ada, from 1991 - 1994. It suffered from license problems with GCC and the myth you need a paid compiler to write non-GPL code. The issue with Ada is that most people don't even know that it still exists. That, or they think it's going to be like writing COBOL. Instead it's a contemporary language to C++, which evolved through Pascal rather than C and has similarly received updates, Ada 2012 especially [0]. It even has a package manager now[1]. [0] : learn.adacore.com/ [1] : https://alire.ada.dev/ https://alire.ada.dev/
dataangel 5y ago
I'm very interested in Ada but 10+ years ago when I tried to look into I had trouble finding tutorials and implementations. I got the impression there was no real open source community around it, but maybe I was wrong?
- pyjarrett 5y ago
  Within the last couple years, last year especially, there's been a massive push by one the Ada companies, AdaCore, to releasing open source and proselytizing the language. That company contributes back to the GCC front-end for Ada called GNAT. They're also helping support and develop Ada's new package manager, called Alire. It's a small, but interesting community. It has the feel of some of the newer programming language communities, but is an already mature language that's getting its tooling being massively contemporized since there's commercial money and full-time employees behind it.

by renox 5y ago

pyjarrett 5y ago

> Too bad, the DoD didn't have the foresight to create/sponsor a Free Ada compiler sooner.. The US Air Force supposedly help fund the development of GNAT, the GCC front-end for Ada, from 1991 - 1994. It suffered from license problems with GCC and the myth you need a paid compiler to write non-GPL code. The issue with Ada is that most people don't even know that it still exists. That, or they think it's going to be like writing COBOL. Instead it's a contemporary language to C++, which evolved through Pascal rather than C and has similarly received updates, Ada 2012 especially [0]. It even has a package manager now[1]. [0] : learn.adacore.com/ [1] : https://alire.ada.dev/ https://alire.ada.dev/

dataangel 5y ago

I'm very interested in Ada but 10+ years ago when I tried to look into I had trouble finding tutorials and implementations. I got the impression there was no real open source community around it, but maybe I was wrong?

pyjarrett 5y ago
Within the last couple years, last year especially, there's been a massive push by one the Ada companies, AdaCore, to releasing open source and proselytizing the language. That company contributes back to the GCC front-end for Ada called GNAT. They're also helping support and develop Ada's new package manager, called Alire. It's a small, but interesting community. It has the feel of some of the newer programming language communities, but is an already mature language that's getting its tooling being massively contemporized since there's commercial money and full-time employees behind it.