19 Jun
2026
19 Jun
'26
9:40 a.m.
On Friday, June 19, 2026 at 8:53, Bill Gunshannon via cctalk wrote:
Well, maybe my memory is getting flawed (it was 25
years ago and I am
75 now) but we started using GNAT right from the very beginning at the
University I worked at.
My first exposure was with GNAT 3.04 from June 1996. I've been using later
versions off-and-on ever since. No version that I've used has generated C
code. Indeed, I'm not sure how the "GNU" part of the "GNU NYU Ada
Translator" would fit in. What part of gcc generates C code for a front
end?
One of our professors was a friend of Dewar.
Dewar and Schonberg were, of course, colleagues on the GNAT project, which
was targeted specifically at Ada 95 (then Ada 9X) and intended as a free
compiler.
I distinctly remember working with C output. Unless
there was another
Ada compiler at the time.
The CLA FAQ, which was written at the time of the Ada 95 revision, lists
some two dozen companies offering Ada compilers. Ada 83 pre-dates that and
undoubtedly had a number of commercial compiler vendors, given the US DOD
Ada mandate.
I will have to try and go back thru my massive
repository and check it
out again.
I don't think you're wrong regarding an early Ada compiler that generated C
code. I seem to recall such a beast too, although I can't lay my hands on
a reference.
-- Dave