HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: snorman@den.mmc.com ( Stephen P. Norman )
Subject: Ada Hashing Functions?
Keywords: Ada, Hash, String
Reply-To: snorman@den.mmc.com
Organization: Martin Marietta Astronautics Group
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 23:04:53 GMT

I am looking for some software/algorithms to do the following:

1) Given a string (generated at run-time) hash the string into a
   32 bit integer

2) Collision handling for same

Ada is the most desirable, although C would do in a pinch.
References also appreciated. Direct replies are preferred

thanx

Steve Norman
Software Reuse Initiative
Martin Marietta Astronautics Group
PO Box 179
Denver CO 80201
From: mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)
Subject: Re: C++ vs. Ada -- Is Ada loosing?
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 21:48:31 GMT

In article <16269@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> ok@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
>
>My current impression is that Ada textbooks tend to be more accurate in
>the claims they make about what is or is not valid Ada, and tend to have
>a higher level view of the software process, than C books.  Is this an
>illusion, due to my knowing C relatively better than I know Ada?
>
This is not an illusion. Ada books were - in the bad old days - full of
errors because nobody had good compilers around to test their code with.
Now that everyone has correct compilers (as least as far as validation
can show them correct), we can test our stuff.

My data structures book (1985) had lots of errors in the code, but these
were either _algorithm_ errors or "version control" problems where the
pieces did not fit together correctly because of author and publisher
carelessness. None were "Ada errors" or nonportabilities.

My freshman book (1991) had a lot of typos when it first came out, but
these were in the _text_ - misspellings and inconsistencies in the
English, tables, blah blah. Lots of UW students got to point out these
errors during my year in Seattle; I paid $1.00 for the first report of
each error.

There were a few algorithm errors and other quibbles that had nothing to do
with Ada. And ONE nonportability: there are two programs in which I made
a bad assumption about float-to-integer conversion, so the programs will
give different results depending on whether the float is truncated or rounded
where the fractional part is in the middle of the interval. This is 2 
programs of 180, and the error was my own stupidity.

I tested (nearly) everything under at least 4 compilers, and other
adopters of the book are using any number of other compilers that I
don't have access to. I have yet to get a report of a portability bug
in any one of them; indeed, I am not getting bug reports at all.
The book includes a diskette of all the programs, so nobody ever has to
endure a keying error to use them.

The purpose of this is not to hype the book, but just to point out
how easy it is to develop Ada code that'll really be compiler-independent,
given today's compilers and programs that don't use a lot of Chapter 13
stuff (you wouldn't find that in a freshman book!).

You might quibble with an author's coding style, or choice of algorithm,
but these days you'll have to work very hard to find a language error
in today's Ada books.

Mike Feldman

PS - My $1.00 per error still stands.
From: anderson@dseg.ti.com (John Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Online turorial or manual
Date: 11 Dec 92 20:13:31 GMT
Reply-To: anderson@dseg.ti.com
Organization: TI-DSEG Spring Creek

Does anyone know of an online version of an Ada turorial or manual that is implemented in a way similar to  a hyertext application.  

I know the LRM text file is available by ftp, but was looking for a shareware turorial or retrieval
tool.

anderson@dseg.ti.com (John Anderson)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: jclander@texas.mitre.org (Julian C. Lander)
Subject: Re: Language pitfalls (was Re: FORTRAN bug)
Reply-To: jclander@texas.mitre.org (Julian C. Lander)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 20:02:05 GMT

In article <256@visicom.com>, rlk@VisiCom.COM (Bob Kitzberger) writes:
|> eachus@oddjob.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes:
|> 
|> >    (What Robert Dewar and I objected to was that certain functions
|> >whose only intended effect is to raise an exception must still contain
|> >a return statement.  This results in junk return statements in stubbed
|> >out code, and makes a stubber much harder to write.)
|> 
|> Robert, I can't think of a reason to have a function that does nothing
|> but raise an exception... can you provide an example?  (I'm not
|> questioning the need for it -- just curious)
|> 

I didn't write this one, but it is in some code I'm using.
The situation is interface with C-language functions, which return
error codes.  The chunk of code before me (I don't know a good noun
for what it is--it builds about 3 different executables) has a function
called Raise_Appropriate_Exception, which raises the exception 
corresponding to the return code it has been passed.

Since it never gets a 0 (its caller should avoid that), it doesn't return.

I don't know that it's the best solution to the problem (I'm not wild
about it, frankly), but that's what I have.

Julian C. Lander
jclander@mitre.org


Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: eachus@oddjob.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus)
Subject: Re: Lets split comp.lang.ada into multiple groups to confine flames
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
	<1992Dec17.172750.17320@seas.gwu.edu>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 18:39:34 GMT


   In article 62879@mimsy.umd.edu, alex@cs.umd.edu (Alex Blakemore) writes:
   >make comp.lang.ada obsolete and create a small set of groups instead.
   >
   >  some suggestions
   >
   >    comp.lang.advocacy   - for the flame wars
   >    comp.lang.programmer - for discussions of design/development Ada language issues
   >                           (or comp.lang.technical or better name?)
   >    comp.lang.announce   - moderated, low volume important announcements
   >                           of meetings, products, standards, new mandates :) etc
   >    comp.lang.misc       - catch all

   If this is becomming a serious proposal, the names should be
comp.lang.ada.programmer, etc.  However comp.lang.advocacy might be
more appropriate than having a separate group for each language.  (Of
course, as soon as this is mentioned in news.groups, the C and C++
groups will play keep up with the Jones.)



--

					Robert I. Eachus

with Standard_Disclaimer;
use  Standard_Disclaimer;
function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...
From: mab@wdl39.wdl.loral.com (Mark A Biggar)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Language pitfalls (was Re: FORTRAN bug)
Date: 16 Dec 92 17:27:17 GMT
Organization: Loral Western Development Labs

In article <EACHUS.92Dec15202249@oddjob.mitre.org> eachus@oddjob.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes:
>In article <1992Dec15.203558.18211@inmet.camb.inmet.com> stt@spock.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft) writes:
>   Oh boy.  That is a nasty one.  This argues for a "friendly" 
>   Ada compiler giving a warning about any use of "null;" other
>   than the idiomatic ones like "when others => null;" or "begin null; end;"
>   (especially in a function that returns an access type ;-).
>   In retrospect, one could argue that it would have been better
>   to have no "null" statement at all (other than simply ";") than
>   to create a situation allowing this kind of one word error.
>    Actually, there is an Ada rule which normally catches this, and
>which Robert Dewar and I have argued should be removed in Ada 9X.  (A
>function must contain a return statement RM 6.5(1).)  If it belongs on
>the top ten list, then the rule should stay.
>    (What Robert Dewar and I objected to was that certain functions
>whose only intended effect is to raise an exception must still contain
>a return statement.  This results in junk return statements in stubbed
>out code, and makes a stubber much harder to write.)

How about a rule that requires a function to contain either a return or an
explisit raise statement?  Would that not satisfy both sides?

--
Mark Biggar
mab@wdl1.wdl.loral.com
From: PETCHER@OTTAWA.dseg.ti.com (What? Me Ada?)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Language wars
Date: 12 Dec 92 16:39:14 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Furgus Henderson posts:
>mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes:

>>You make a good point. Perhaps the modern equivalent of that Fortran
>>single-keystroke bug is my favorite bit of C code (and no, I don't
>>want to bash C, just point out how common these flukes are):
>>
>>   int x;
>>   ...
>>   x = 1;
>>   while (x <= 10);
>>   {
>>      printf("%d\n", x);
>>      x++;
>>   }

>A good compiler would give a warning that the call to printf was
>unreachable code. The only compiler I have available, gcc, unfortunately
>doesn't give any such warning. But the Pascal-subset compiler I wrote (as one
>of the projects for a 3rd-year subject) gives the following warnings for
>the equivalent Pascal code:

>warning: variable 'x' is not used after assignment, so assignment has no effect
>warning: 'while' statement will cause an infinite loop

I would submit that neither of these warnings is completely correct for this
particular example, at least without further qualification.  'x' is, in fact,
used after assignment, although both the assignment and the subsequent use
could be optimized away.  If they are, the compiler should state that in the
warning.  If not, no warning should be given.  If you really put the
offending semicolon in by accident, but the program compiled OK anyway, even
with the warning, you'd say "Of course it's used.  Compiler bug." then get in
there with a debugger and wonder why you couldn't find 'x' or any code
associated with it.  The warning about the infinite loop should only be given
if the compiler supports the "volatile" storage class modifier.  Most do, and
I think the ANSI standard requires it, but not all compilers support it just
the same, or just ignore it.  The result is something outside the current
context could change the value of x and terminate the loop.

On the life cycle cost controversy:  While, as somebody recently pointed out,
statistics can be cooked up any way you want them, even a good cook can't
cook without ingredients.  The typical life cycle of a military system is
about 20 years, probably to grow a bit as time goes on.  I'm not sure what
the oldest fielded Ada based system is right now, but it couldn't be over
four or five years old.  Anybody who attempts to compare life cycle cost can
only do so based on speculation.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Malcolm Petcher                    | Coming soon to this location:       |
| Petcher@m2000.dseg.ti.com          | some fancy disclaimer that keeps    |
| Malcolm Petcher @ V'ger            | me from getting fired               |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: at507@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Jim M. Bowden)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: IBM - Air Traffic Control - GAO Rpt - FYI
Date: 13 Dec 1992 05:03:44 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


available from General Accounting Office POB 6015 Gaithersburg, MD 20877
First copy is free, thereafter its $2.00
   
Air Traffic Control: Advanced Automation System Still Vulnerable to
Cost and Schedule Problems. GAO/RCED-92-264, Sep 18. 16 pages.
During the past decade, substantial cost growth and schedule delays
have beset the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Advanced
Automation System, a $5-billion project to replace and enhance the
work stations and computer systems used by air traffic controllers.
FAA originally estimated in 1983 that the automation system would cost
$2.5 billion and be completed in 1996. Since then, completion costs have
doubled and the schedule has slipped by six years because FAA under-
estimated the effort required to develop and implement the system. The
upshot is that air traffic controllers continue to use 20-year-old
equipment, a situation that reduces the margin of safety in the air
traffic control system. Delays in implementing the automation system
have also deferred benefits for users of the air traffic control system,
such as savings in fuel cost for airlines arising from better routing
capabilities. Although FAA has taken positive steps to improve the
automation system, such as developing a demonstration facility to gain
an early assessment of controllers' and technicians' concerns, the
project still remains vulnerable to further cost increases and schedule
delays.
 
 
 
----
All typos are my error.   The first project - is being done by
IBM and CSC in Rockville, MD using Rational development machines (
about 20 I believe) using the Ada programming language.
 
jim => Dayton  
iijq500@indyvax.iupui.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: 64 bit integer math needed in Vax Ada
From: tas@madre.dasd.honeywell.com (Todd A Sorensen)
Date: 17 Dec 92 07:53:02 MST
Organization: Honeywell Flight Management Systems
Nntp-Posting-User: tas

I am looking for a package that would allow me to do 64 bit integer arithmetic
using VAX Ada.  Package system currently only allows 32 bit integers.  I'd
really rather not write this myself since I'm under several other deadlines.

You can reply via email if you wish.

Thanks in advance.
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Todd A Sorensen               Honeywell Defense Avionics Systems Division
(505) 828-5611                internet: tas@dasd.honeywell.com
                              fax: (505) 828-5500
------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: larry@peak.nmsu.edu (Evil Engineer doin' it the Cowboy Way)
Subject: Meridian phone number wanted
Organization: New Mexico State University, MetaPhysical Science Laboratory
Distribution: comp.lang.ada
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 19:33:13 GMT

I'm wanting a current phone number for Meridian. Can anyone help me?

Thanking you in advance,

L.
"Yeh, Buddy..            | larry@psl.nmsu.edu (Larry Cunningham)|  _~~_
 I've got your COMPUTER! | % Physical Science Laboratory        | (O)(-)
 Right HERE!!"           | New Mexico State University          |  /..\ 
 (computer THIS!)        | Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA 88003    |   <> 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are CORRECT, mine, and not PSLs or NMSUs..
Tularosa: tullies, roses, lava, white sands, and home of THEM! (atomic ants).


Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian)
Subject: Re: Cooked cost-effectiveness
Organization: The World
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 03:41:33 GMT

Actually the long term cost effectiveness of Ada and the Mandate will always
be unknown for the following reasons:

	1) As the GAO reported a few years ago, there is no systematic
	   collection of comprehensive cost data for Ada projects inside
	   the DoD, a conclusion the DoD concurred with, and to date has
	   done little to address. Nor is there collection of background
	   socioeconomic data (such as processor throughput and desktop
   	   CPU power) that has to be factored out of the Ada cost data.
 
	2) There are no decent microeconomic models of defense software
	   development to use as a basis for analyzing the data collected.
	   In fact, data should not be collected until there is such a
	   model, otherwise you don't know what variables to measure.
	   As there is, and has been, no DoD interest in such models
	   (and I do not consider any modified form of COCOMO a suitable
	   basis for a microeconomic model, which some have argued),
	   the DoD is in the dark, except for ancedotal evidence.

	3) There are no groups independent of the DoD who know enough
	   about economics and defense software development to perform
	   a valid assessment of this question.  The Mosemann studies
	   are evidence of the crap you get when the DoD asks one of
	   its own to say how well the DoD is doing.

This is not to say that I don't believe that for some projects, Ada is
very cost effective.  I have seen a few private sector projects use Ada
very cost effectively.  Rather, I do not think anyone will be able to
specifically prove that the Ada mandate is cost effective.  Not that
anyone cares, especially when you have outrageous claims like the original
STARS claim to increase productivity ten-fold.   Any goal far enough in
the future, backed by a few uniforms, will be funded by Congress in under
a few tens of millions.  None of the originals will be around on judgment
day.

Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimization

-- 
**************************************************************************
Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimiztion
P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178
From: ojuarez@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx (Octavio Juarez Espinosa)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: looking for ada compiler free
Summary: looking...
Keywords: ada compiler
Date: 14 Dec 92 22:00:34 GMT
Organization: I.T.E.S.M. Campus Monterrey


Hi,

I am very interested in to get one ada compiler in one ftp site.
Too I'll appreciate if send me some information about FAQ address.
Thanks in advance.
Sincerely,

Octavio Juarez Espinosa


-- 
Octavio Juarez Espinosa
Gabriel Valerio 1134 
Saltillo, Coahuila    CP 25000
Mexico  email ojuarez@mtecv2.mty.itesm.mx
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)
Subject: Re: Cooked cost-effectiveness
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 05:07:24 GMT

In article <SRCTRAN.92Dec13224133@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) writes:

[lots of good stuff deleted about the paucity of good models for assessing
cost-effectiveness deleted]
>
>This is not to say that I don't believe that for some projects, Ada is
>very cost effective.  I have seen a few private sector projects use Ada
>very cost effectively.  Rather, I do not think anyone will be able to
>specifically prove that the Ada mandate is cost effective.  Not that
>anyone cares, especially when you have outrageous claims like the original
>STARS claim to increase productivity ten-fold.   Any goal far enough in
>the future, backed by a few uniforms, will be funded by Congress in under
>a few tens of millions.  None of the originals will be around on judgment
>day.
>
Right. Which is why the service policies (e.g. Currie Colket's summary
the other day of the Navy one) simply state a _presumption_ of Ada cost-
effectiveness. The burden is on the nay-sayer to persuade the relevant
waiver-writer that a waiver is needed. Quite appropriate IMHO. This
could also have been done by simple DoD fiat, without Congress' help.

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman
co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee

Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052 USA
(202) 994-5253 (voice)
(202) 994-5296 (fax)
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)

"Americans want the fruits of patience -- and they want them now."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: parris@cs.scarolina.edu (Barry Parris)
Subject: Ada compiler for VM/CMS
Organization: USC  Department of Computer Science
Date:  6 Dec 92 20:55:36 GMT

I understand that IBM no longer sells their Ada compiler for VM/CMS.  Does
anyone know of other compilers?  This would be for an IBM 9375.

--Barry
--
----
Barry Parris    parris@cs.scarolina.edu
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: spray@convex.com (Rob Spray)
Subject: Re: Open Systems closed to Ada?
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 21:45:17 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In <EMERY.92Dec16101016@dr_no.mitre.org> emery@dr_no.mitre.org (David Emery) writes:

>>Ada is certainly not a bad language; it wasn't nearly as well supported
>>as C for its first 5 or more years, but that is finally getting better.

>Huh?  How many C compilers were there during the first 5 years of C,
>back around 1972 or so...

Well, I don't think C was five years old until 1977-78.  The B compiler
was written by Ken Thompson in 1970 (1).  Unix was re-written in C in 1973.
(2).

However, in 1978, apart from the PDP-11, "C compilers run on a wide
variety of machines, including the Honeywell 6000, the IBM System/360,
and the Interdata 8/32."(3)

Sounds like about where Ada was ten years later, no?  In terms of 
compiler availability, that is.

I surmise that the original poster meant that during the first five
of Ada compiler availability, C was a better supported language in
terms of compiler availability and tool support. Hardly a revelation,
since it's a smaller language and roughly a decade older.

--Rob  spray@convex.com

(1) Bell System Technical Journal July-August 1978 Vol 57, No 6, Part 2
    p1992
(2) ibid, p1907
(3) ibid, p1991
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: andersen@liswsd.llnl.gov (Roger Andersen)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Calling Ada from 'C': Ada main unnecessary in VAX/VMS
Date: 12 Dec 92 18:38:55 GMT
Distribution: dc
Organization: LLNL_LIS

In article <BywpEx.J9n@gdls.CSCTMD.COM>, tarcea@gdls.CSCTMD.COM (Tool Stud) 
writes:
>    2. If your main program is in C and you are only using Ada for support
>       you will still need to "start" the C program from within Ada.
> 
I'll just point out here that this is not true in VAX/VMS.  I call Ada packages
from C without having to start with an Ada main.  Any Ada package elaborations
are all done by the time I hit "main(int argc, char *argv[])".  (Thank you,
DEC.)
************************************************************************
Roger Andersen
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Internet:	randersen@llnl.gov	
Phonenet:	(510)-422-2176
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Your Honor, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life;
	well *there it sits*. Waiting."
			-- Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
************************************************************************
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: accs1@bagheera.mumath 
Subject: Re: Ada Newsletter
Reply-To: accs1@bagheera.mumath
Organization: Sun Microsystems
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 08:05:05 GMT

Please put me on your mailing list for the quarterly newsletter as well. My duty
address is:
	NACMA
	attn: Frank Schnell
	8, Rue de Geneve
	B-1140 Bruxelles
	Belgium

Thanks
Frank

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: olender@vivaldi.cs.colostate.edu (Kurt Olender)
Subject: Re: Online turorial or manual
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:49:08 GMT
Organization: Colorado State Univ. Computer Science Dept.


Goetz Schrader writes:

   There is a program called ADA-TUTR available from
   John J. Herro, Ph. D.
   Software Innovations Technology
   1083 Mandarin Drive NE,
   Palm Bay
   FL 32905-4706

  for PCs. I believe it's shareware, so maybe you should try to mail Mr. Herro.
  Online Hypertext Help comes along with the Meridian Ada-Compiler (very
  useful: full Reference Manual !)

This is indeed shareware.  You can download the source and PC executables
from wuarchive.wustl.edu:mirrors/ada/ada-tutr.  The registration fee
is $25 I believe.