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Open-Source Ada: From Gateware to Application(blog.adacore.com)
60 points by Bogdanp 3 days ago | 11 comments
  • no_wizard3 days ago

    This is specifically for hardware. Looks really cool!

    I’ve always been confused about Ada the language and its licensing though. I know this project is open source but is the language as well? It’s unclear to me, though I may be missing information

    • tremon3 days ago |parent

      What do you mean with "is the language open source"? The Ada specification is public [0] but not open source -- but the C and C++ specifications are not open source either, in the normal sense of the term. And like with C and C++, there are both open source and proprietary compilers for Ada, see e.g. [1]

      What's mostly not open source (FAFAIK) is SPARK, the formal verification framework for Ada.

      [0] https://www.adaic.org/ada-resources/standards/ada22/

      [1] https://github.com/ohenley/awesome-ada#compilers

      • i-con3 days ago |parent

        SPARK tools are also open source. The main tool `gnatprove` is based on GCC as well. https://github.com/AdaCore/spark2014

        It's not a community project, AFAICT. Few people know how to build it from source.

        • tremon3 days ago |parent

          That links gives me a 404. Does it require membership of some organization before you're allowed to view it?

          edit: did you mean https://github.com/AdaCore/spark2014 ?

          • i-con3 days ago |parent

            Sorry, yes 2014. Fixed it.

      • RossBencina2 days ago |parent

        The C++ (draft) standards are open source:

        https://github.com/cplusplus/draft

        Last time I looked I could not find an equivalent repository for the C standards.

        • AlotOfReading2 days ago |parent

          There isn't one. They publish completed drafts on the working group website:

          https://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/wg14_document_lo...

          • RossBencinaa day ago |parent

            .pdf unfortunately. The C++ sources that I linked to are machine readable .tex.

    • i-con3 days ago |parent

      If you are looking for an open-source compiler, many distros (e.g. Archlinux, Debian and derivatives) bootstrap a full GCC (GNU compiler collection). Sometimes you have to install a particular packet, e.g. `gnat` or `gcc-ada`. There's also a language-specific packet tool `alire` that seems to aim to be somewhat like cargo. It can also install toolchains, IIRC.

    • pjmlp2 days ago |parent

      Just as open as COBOL, Fortran, C and C++.

      As ISO standards driven language with multiple implementations, commercial and open source ones.

      The open source one is part of GCC.

    • homarp3 days ago |parent

      you have GNAT https://www.getadanow.com/ which is part of GNU compilers

      some discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27313294