OK:
First, it didn't take years to get the first certified Ada compiler.  (By
the way, my recollection of the
slashdot comment was that it said "complete" -- and, as far as I know there
are no complete C++
compilers; also, since there is no real Java standard, it's hard to see how
there could be complete
Java compilers.)  MIL-STD-1815A was adopted in late 1983.  There was at
least one certificate
before the summer of 1984, with at least two more during the summer of that
year.  (I'm quoting
Mike Hill, who helped perform one of those three validations.)

My group offers validation (certification) services for C++ compilers.  We
have certified exactly zero
C++ compilers.  If anyone else offers C++ certificates, I think I would have
heard about it.
For a definitive answer, contact the convener of the ISO Working Group
responsible for C++: Tom Plum ([log in to unmask]).

I was tempted to respond to the most egregious of the slashdot comments, but
it was too much trouble and too hard on my blood pressure.  48 character
set, indeed!  (I might know where that came from.  In the early days of the
ACVC, our test coding standards restricted us to uppercase so as to test
functionality over input format.  I suppose an ignorant person might have
inferred that lowercase letters weren't supported, but that's ridiculous.)

I wonder whether a careful attempt to refute these ridiculous claims (in the
slashdot forum) might accomplish anything?  (I sincerely doubt it.)

Phil

Philip W. Brashear
EDS Conformance Testing Center
4646 Needmore Road, Bin 46
P.O. Box 24593
Dayton, OH  45424-0593
(937) 237-4510
[log in to unmask]
http://www.eds-conform.com



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kester, Rush W. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 9:26 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: "Why Not Ada"
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Criley, Marc A [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 12:00 PM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: "Why Not Ada"
> >
> >I read through the comments posted at the SlashDot site, and
> some of the
> >misinformation was so mind-bogglingly ludicrous that it
> warranted its own
> >Douglas Adams' metaphors.  I was embarrassed for some of the
> contributors
> >that they not just believed, but would actually post, such
> foolishness.
> >
> >Did you know that early Ada compilers could only recognize
> 48 characters?
> >That the language was so complex that it was years before a
> "certified"
> >compiler could be produced?  (Well, that one might actually
> be true ;-)
>
> As true as the statement that it took years to get a
> certified Ada compiler
> might be, how long did it take to get the first certified C
> or C++ compiler?
>
> Rush Kester
> Charter member Team Ada
> Software Systems Engineer
> AdaSoft at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.
> email:  [log in to unmask]
> phone: (240) 228-3030 (live M-F 9:30am-4:30pm, voicemail anytime)
> fax:   (240) 228-6779
> http://hometown.aol.com/rwkester/myhomepage/index.html
>