Look what happends when I don’t pay attention: Ada 2005 is almost finished! Whee!I admit to having a soft spot for Ada. There were things I really liked, like type safety. But a couple of small things hit me hard, and I never really got into the language because of them. For example:
- No “java-like” interfaces. Being a Java nerd I like those. I know you could use abstract tagged null records. But…
- The subroutine (function) call syntax. Ada derives from Pascal, and the sytax is not what is considered OO “standard” today. That is: Ada uses the MyPackage.myFunction(myOject, …) variant.
And now? By damn, both the two issues above are gone. Now you can call myObject.myFunction(…) like you’d do in Java and C++. And you can have interfaces. And “not null” access types. And…This seems neat. Here’s a rationale in PDF format for all you nerds. I havn’t read all yet. But so far it seems promising.Hum… Maybe I should pick up that chess engine I started in Ada 95 a few years ago and give it a new whirl? Ho-hum…