On Mon, 21 Sep 1998 13:35:47 -0400 Siamak Kaveh <[log in to unmask]> 
wrote:

> Dear Fortran experts:
> 
> A friend of mine (a computer engineer who uses C++) insists that Ada95
> is the best programming language for scientists and non-computer
> engineers . His reasons:
> 
> (from: http://www.adahome.com/Tutorials/Lovelace/s1s1.htm)
> 
> 1. Packages (modules) of related types, objects, and operations can be
> defined.
> 2. Packages and types can be made generic (parameterized through a
> template) to help create reusable components.
> 3. Errors can be signaled as exceptions and handled explicitly. Many
> serious errors (such as computational overflow and invalid array
> indexes) are automatically caught and handled through this exception
> mechanism, improving program reliability.
> 4. Tasks (multiple parallel threads of control) can be created and
> communicate. This is a major capability not supported in a standard way
> by many other languages.
> 5. Data representation can be precisely controlled to support systems
> programming.
> 6.A predefined library is included; it provides input/output (I/O),
> string manipulation, numeric functions, a command line interface, and a
> random number generator (the last two were available in Ada 83, but are
> standardized in Ada 95).
> 7. Object-oriented programming is supported (this is a new feature of
> Ada 95). In fact, Ada 95 is the first internationally standardized
> object oriented programming language.
> 8. Interfaces to other languages (such as C, Fortran, and COBOL) are
> included in the language (these have been significantly enhanced in Ada
> 95). At least one Ada compiler (from Intermetrics) can generate Java
> Virtual Machine (J-code) from Ada, so people can use Ada to develop Java
> applets and applications.
> 
> After reading these reasons, following questions came to my mind: (mind
> on an engineer who has to use F77/90, sometimes C)
> 
> 1) I know some of these capabilities is already supported by the Fortran
> standard and some of them will be added to the next release...is Fortran
> late? How can I convince the new generation of engineers to wait for the
> next Fortran standard to have all of these capabilities?
> 2) Is there any comparison between performance of Fortran90/95 and Ada95
> compilers?
> 3) It seems that Ada is  the most popular language for safety-critical
> systems. Why Ada? Why not Fortran or C++? What makes Ada suitable for
> this kind of programming?
> 4) What can Fortran offer to the engineers that Ada can't? (except
> backward and legacy code compatibility)
> 
> I know the answers to these questions could be long and/or they are
> already discussed. I appreciate if you point me to the related
> references.
> 
> Thank you in advance.
> 
> Siamak Kaveh
> Mech./Nucl. Eng.
> Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal.
> 
> 
> 

It's a matter of "horses for courses": its advanced features make Ada a 
fine language for writing a telephone exchange in, but not for scientific 
or engineering work.  

Who wants to work with a language which doesn't even provide a square 
root?  (Or has the turkey I briefly had to support in the late 80's got 
itself proper support for floating-point arithemtic?)

----------------------
David J Adams
[log in to unmask]



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