Re: Possible to write compiler to Java VM?

Henry Baker (hbaker@netcom.com) wrote:


: However, the single most important reason why Java is a _much_ better
: language than Ada-95 is the fact that Java does garbage collection and
: Ada does not.


I agree that it's really nice from the programmer's point of view to
have GC built in. It makes programming way easier in many situations.
I've been doing some Java work lately and having GC is really nice.


: Twice now, the Ada language people have gone AWOL
: (absent without leave -- i.e., deserted) on the GC issue, and for no
: technically supportable reasons. Their cowardice under (friendly!)
: fire leaves them no moral high ground to claim any kind of superiority
: over even Basic or Lotus 123, much less Java.


The reason for leaving it out is summarized in 2 words: REAL TIME.
Ada is meant for real time programs and (pause, put on asbestos suit
and flame-retardant helmet) GC isn't.


In an environment like the Net the non-determinacy of GC is a drop in
the bucket compared with the non-determinacy of the Net itself. (Will
accessing a file on another machine take 1/10 of a second or 1 minute?
Not sure, depends on the traffic today.) In the world of embedded
real time systems GC cannot be relied upon.


- Mitch Gart
--

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