4 ms·
Ada isn't a huge language by modern standards. I would say that it's smaller than modern Python and considerably smaller than modern C++. It's also relatively s
by jordanb 6mo ago
Ada isn't a huge language by modern standards. I would say that it's smaller than modern Python and considerably smaller than modern C++. It's also relatively syntax-free preferring keywords and standard library.
Ada came "fully specified" in an era when languages were either not formally specified or were much smaller. C wasn't formally specified, for instance, until 1989 (six years after Ada) and the spec was sparse compared to Ada. For instance, Ada put binary compatibility rules into the language while C's standard didn't worry about ABIs at all. Using two different C compilers could create different ABIs because they aren't part of the language spec.
- cestith 6mo agoTrue enough, but nobody ports Python as a first systems language to a new platform. C is ubiquitous because it tends to be the first or second language on a newly designed system after the assembler. Every once in a while Forth comes before C, but that’s pretty rare. C won by being powerful but tiny, and making it easier to make a compliant compiler.