Chip Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>This rings very true for me as well.  I usually have this experience when
>programming in Ada:  Code, code, code, compile, oops.  Check the code, yup,
>the compiler's right, I was about to bite my own leg off there.  Fix, compile,
>test, oops again.  Oh, darn, I'm *always* screwing that sorta thing up! ...
>
>And then it hits me ... what would I be doing at this point in the project if
>I had been coding in C?  At least half the time, bugs that the compiler or
>first round of run-time checks have caught were things that C would have
>cheerfully allowed through the door.  About this time, I get a really sick,
>queasy feeling.  *Some* of those bugs might have remained dormant and
>undetected until delivery and beyond.  Ewwwwww!!
>
>--
>Chip

I've had the same experience with Ada 83 for years, and it's the same
with Ada95. All of the WebAda code was developed without a debugger.
There were only a few cases where a debugger would have helped, but I
got by easily with a couple of Put_Line's. Given the nature of the
application (CGI scripts), I'm not even sure how a debugger could
have helped in most of those cases.

Of course, I'm an experienced Ada programmer who uses the language
to express design in such a way to catch errors and prevent abuses.
Maybe beginners avoid strong typing and then need the debugger more.
Sounds like a good thesis if it hasn't been studied yet.

Doug
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