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Does Ada have a runtime?

• pjmlp 12y ago
  All programming languages have runtimes.
  • protomyth 12y ago
    What's your definition for "runtimes" because in my experience your statement isn't true. I have done embedded system programming and would have noticed if the languages I used added some runtime.
    • pjmlp 12y ago
      The CS definition of runtime. The set of primitives required to support the semantics of the programming language. In C this would be the code required to call main (), initialization of global variables, hooks for library functions like atexit () to register their actions and a few other things. Sure one can disable this runtime, however whatever happens to be used instead is nothing else than a customized runtime. I am streching a bit the meaning here, but in some processors even the microcode logic could be seen as a kind of silicone runtime.
      • protomyth 12y ago
        Ok, but that not the definition used for a lot of languages (particularly when talking about microcode). Ada will happily compile to bare metal without what is traditionally considered a runtime. Forth on forth chips is as bare as you can get.