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From: RCONN@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Rick Conn)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: A Validated Ada Compiler for the IBM PC/XT!
Message-ID: <9046@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 7-Mar-85 16:18:08 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.9046
Posted: Thu Mar  7 16:18:08 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Mar-85 07:17:42 EST
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 43

I received a flyer from and made a phone call to General Transformation
Corporation, PO Box 10083, Berkeley, CA  94709  (415)644-0702 today re their
new Ada compiler.  The data:

Validation -- planned to take place as follows: pre-validation in 2nd quarter
of 1985, validation in 3rd quarter of 1985

Host System -- IBM PC/XT (later will shoot for the IBM PC/AT)

Target System -- Native object code for the Intel 8086/8088 micro with
8087 numeric coprocessor running PC-DOS 2.0 or later

Availability -- soon after pre-validation, during 3rd quarter of 1985; cost
is $1000

Host System Requirements -- IBM PC/XT with at least 5M bytes of disk, monitor,
360K byte floppy, 512K bytes RAM, 8087 numeric coprocessor

My comments --
	(1) They claim that current tests show that compilation speeds
of at least 1000 lines per minute (elapsed time) will be
achieved; I will have to see that to believe it, but, for a fully validated
compiler, I wouldn't mind settling for 100 lines per minute
	(2) They will include rep specs!  The marketing manager hinted that
they plan to include ALL of Chapter 13 of the Ada Language Reference Manual!
They will also include the pragma interface for interfacing with other
languages.
	(3) I got the general impression that they were quite competent (I had a good
discussion with the sales manager).  They were also quite responsive to
my call.
	(4) Will be looking forward to thee announcement of their validation.
Will then probably push for acquisition of a copy for evaluation here.
If this is all that it claims to be, it will be a marvelous step forward
for the Ada effort overall.  Imagine offloading compilations to a PC, and
then uploading the debugged code to a mainframe for compilation into the
main system.

	Rick

The opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of
my employer.  I am not aware of any affiliation that I may have with
General Transformation Corporation.
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