Michael Feldman wrote: > > Someone recently mentioned a piece on GNAT in Dr. Dobbs, December > issue. I'm having trouble finding it here in the stores. Anyone got > a copy? I have a copy of the article here. December is the Object Oriented Programming focus issue. The article is by Gavin Smyth, who I do not know. While I understand the editorial difficulties of getting comprehensive material published, and am glad to see an Ada article in DDJ, I am somewhat disappointed with what was published. No offense to the author, I just think Ada deserves better. Since I couldn't do better, I hesitated to give my observations, but maybe I'm the demographic we should be after. (C and to a lesser degree C++ programmer interested in software engineering issues and predictable development processes). For what it's worth, here's the top things that struck me about the article: - Never mentions that Ada 95 is an ISO standardized, object oriented language (this is the OOP issue, after all) - Refers readers to a comparison of C++, Ada, and Modula-3 from 1992 -- before Ada 95 was standardized. Don't know what that says, but it probably isn't relevant or flattering. - Focuses on DJGPP and makes extensive use of DJGPP features (portability???) - Says you ought to get the DJGPP binary file compressor -- GNU execs tend to be bulky (resources???) - "For brevity, I have not bothered to make the code very efficient..." -- I know the answer, but "Ada's not efficient" jumps into my mind - Discusses, at some length, how Ada 95 tasking doesn't work under dos. (In it's favor, does later say there isn't such a problem under other OS's, but still struck me that he discussed the use of Ada 83 tasking facilities here -- if Ada 95's so good, why's he using Ada 83?) I know the answer and the truth of all these issues and understand that it may, in fact, make great sense to use Ada 83's tasking facilities under DOS. All I kept thinking as I read the article, though, was "couldn't we have found a more flattering environment to write about Ada 95 for the OOP issue?". If I'm a member of the list and believe in Ada and was struck with these thoughts, how many C/C++ heads just skipped on to the next article? Again, I'm not trying to insult or flame Gavin Smyth. Everything in the article was accurate and truthful to the best of my knowledge. I was just disappointed that for the first piece on GNAT in DDJ, it didn't send the message that Ada's relevant, modern, object oriented, stable, portable, _and_ reliable. One man's point of view... Scott -- Scott Renfro Lawton Suffering is inevitable. [log in to unmask] OK Misery is optional.