Re: htdig: Windows??

Geoff Hutchison (
Mon, 27 Jul 1998 09:03:20 -0400 (EDT)

> Why not then use Ada? This would provide you with even more machines
> where htDig can be run on, since there are still a lot of machines with no
> Java byte-code interpreter available for them.


While I can't speak for Andrew, I can briefly give a few reasons for not
using Ada. The current Ada language and compiler offer outstanding
advantages for builtin objects and outstanding modularity, IMHO. I have
used Ada for some fairly large projects and have found the verification
features very nice as well.

On the major downside for Ada is the compilation. While I feel safe in
assuming that a user has a C++ compiler on a UNIX platform, I don't feel
safe in assuming someone has an Ada compiler. In additon, the GNAT project
is the only truly free software Ada compiler and it requires binaries to
start building.

Granted, not everyone has Java installed on their servers either, but we
don't have to assume they have a Java compiler. We could ship with the
source and bytecode and then you'd only need a Java runtime.

I'll go so far as to say I prefer to work in Ada over C++ or Java. But as
Mr. Mcpherson mentioned, it's more likely that a system administrator
would install Java than an Ada compiler. And they're much more likely to
know enough C or C++ or Java than Ada, so they're more likely to suggest
fixes, enhancements, etc.

-Geoff Hutchison
Williams Students Online

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