18 Jun
2026
18 Jun
'26
1:58 p.m.
On Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 14:10, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
As for translating from one language to another, that
was pretty much
standard practice for a long time. GNAT Ada produced C.
The comp.lang.ada FAQ disagrees:
Last-posted: 22 April 1996
comp.lang.ada
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
[...]
4.2.1: GNAT, The GNU NYU Ada Translator -- An Ada 95 Compiler
GNAT is a compiler for Ada 95 that accepts Ada 95 source code and
generates executable (machine) code (GNAT is a compiler and does not,
repeat: DOES NOT, generate C code). It is based on the Free Software
Foundation (FSF)'s gcc, a portable compilation system for a variety of
languages.
From "The GNAT Project: A GNU-Ada 9X Compiler" by Edmond Schonberg and
Bernard Banner of the New York University Courant Institute:
The front-end of the GNAT compiler is thus written in Ada 9X. The
back-end of the compiler is the back-end of GCC proper, extended to
meet the needs of Ada semantics.
I have read that the "Translator" part of the name may be the source of the
confusion.
-- Dave