Re: There's legacy, and there's legacy
"These days gcc and gnat mean that in general 'only' the code generating bits need to be target specific, other kind and clever people have done most of the rest in a target-independent fashion, and you can have it (source included) for free."
Unfortunately the problem is not that you have a good compiler (Which is maybe 1/3 the problem. You need versions of the Ada standard packages and some version of the defined Ada development environment, ideally tools using the DIANA intermediate language.
But you're still not done.
You have to prove it. That's where you need a certified Ada validation suite from someone like NIST or BSI to prove what your compiler does (and does not) compile meets the Ada standard exactly
Do I have to say you won't find one of these on the shelves at PC World?
It's about giving the customer the certainty that the customers code will do exactly what the standard says it will do (although wheather they realize exactly what that is is another matter).
I know. It's anal, it's bureaucratic, it's slow but it's how they roll.
And honestly if you're sitting in one of those metal tubes in the sky would you really have it any other way?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
