Re: timeouts

From: Brian May (bam_at_snoopy.apana.org.au)
Date: 08/27/04 

Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 08:54:06 +1000

>>>>> "Stephen" == Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@acm.org> writes:

    Stephen> Hmm. What other compiler (for any language) do you feel
    Stephen> has no bugs?

If I report a bug in the GCC C compiler, for example, then I can
access the fix as soon as it is applied to CVS (if I really want
it). There is also a publicly available list of bugs, so I can tell if
it really is a compiler bug or a bug in my code.

With GNAT, I do not get the fix when it is developed, but have to wait
until it is fixed in the free version.

According to another poster, this problem was known January 2003, that
is over one and a half years ago.

    Stephen> Personally, I don't trust _any_ compiler if I don't have
    Stephen> a support contract for it.

This might work for you, and it might work very well. It doesn't work
for everyone.

My understanding is that the support contracts are aimed at large
projects by large companies. If you are a small company, developing
software tools that don't contribute directly to company profits, then
a support contract may not be an option.

Even if I am wrong here, then a support contract is not really an
option when exclusively developing open source software.

Not that I have a problem with the business model that if you want the
newest features you have to pay for them, but I think an exception
needs to be made for bugs that cause valid code to fail in mysterious
ways.

If you want Ada to become popular, then it is necessarily for bug
fixes to be available to everyone too, including open source software
developers and companies that can't/won't pay for a support
contract. Otherwise that will just become yet another excuse for not
adopting Ada.

    Stephen> Again, what other compiler meets this criteria? GCC C,
    Stephen> maybe. _not_ GCC C++; I have lots of code that won't
    Stephen> compile. But C is not a very modern language, and I'll
    Stephen> take GNAT 3.15p over the latest GCC C compiler any day.

Also: With C or C++ you don't rely on the compiler so much to provide
high level objects. If, for instance, the package you relied on to
provide timers fails you can switch to another library.

In my case the solutions I have seen don't seem feasible:

* use Linux.

* purchase support contract. I have to convince the company that Ada
  is going to be more reliable first. I am not off to a good
  start. This isn't a major project that will generate heaps of
  income, rather its an expensive project (due to poor language choice
  by people who didn't understand its limitations) that everyone would
  prefer to forget about.

  It is very possible that I may be able to make this open source
  software too, so others can use it.

* use mingw compiler - I used that GNAT 3.14p compiler because it was
  my understanding it would be more reliable - has this changed now?

* use external library for timer stuff. Involves rewriting it.

* use another language. Involves rewriting it. 

-- 
Brian May <bam@snoopy.apana.org.au>

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