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Ada / MS WinCE

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stepha...@neuf.fr

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Apr 26, 2008, 4:25:52 AM4/26/08
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Hello there,

Is there any way to compile an Ada application for MS WinCE ?

I've been looking here and there for a while and found only something
like a dead project, I can't remember even where it was.

Steve

Ivan Levashew

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Apr 26, 2008, 3:57:32 PM4/26/08
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stepha...@neuf.fr пишет:

> Is there any way to compile an Ada application for MS WinCE ?
The only way I have heard of is:
GNAT for .NET => .NET CF => WinCE

--
If you want to get to the top, you have to start at the bottom

stepha...@neuf.fr

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Apr 26, 2008, 4:53:49 PM4/26/08
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On 26 avr, 21:57, Ivan Levashew <octag...@bluebottle.com> wrote:
> stephane....@neuf.fr пишет:> Is there any way to compile an Ada application for MS WinCE ?

Merci Ivan !

I'll try this.

Ivan Levashew

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Apr 28, 2008, 3:28:29 AM4/28/08
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stepha...@neuf.fr пишет:

> On 26 avr, 21:57, Ivan Levashew <octag...@bluebottle.com> wrote:
>> The only way I have heard of is:
>> GNAT for .NET => .NET CF => WinCE
> Merci Ivan !
>
> I'll try this.
BTW does AdaCore have any plans on releasing it as part of the GPL 2008
ed.? It is quite not the first time I see a question about WinCE, and
.NET can indeed be viewed as an hobbyist target.

stepha...@neuf.fr

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Apr 29, 2008, 4:09:24 PM4/29/08
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On 28 avr, 09:28, Ivan Levashew <octag...@bluebottle.com> wrote:

I know nothing about AdaCore plans.
I am talking about WinCE because our customers buy that platform and
development on it.
So I will continue with C and C++ because I have everything needed for
the work and with Ada nothing. :-(

Another try :
On my hardware there is an ARM CPU and I have a C/C++ Toolchain
working together with a Linux BSP.
What would be the steps to compile the Ada runtime and tailor the
toolchain so it compiles Ada applications ?
May be the Debian distribution could be a good starting point as they
have support for ARM and GNAT...

ThanX for your attention
Steve

Ivan Levashew

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Apr 29, 2008, 4:32:52 PM4/29/08
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stepha...@neuf.fr пишет:

> I know nothing about AdaCore plans.
Well, at least .NET-specific pieces of code are already present in the
GNAT source. It might probably be enough to build .NET version

> What would be the steps to compile the Ada runtime and tailor the
> toolchain so it compiles Ada applications ? May be the Debian
> distribution could be a good starting point as they have support for
> ARM and GNAT...

http://www.adacore.com/home/gnatpro/configurations/

> ARM Nucleus OS (hosted on Windows)

Jeffrey R. Carter

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Apr 29, 2008, 5:47:22 PM4/29/08
to
stepha...@neuf.fr wrote:
>
> I am talking about WinCE because our customers buy that platform and
> development on it.

What vendors have you asked about Wince support? Of those that support Windows,
you might be able to find one that would be willing to make a port to Wince for you.

> So I will continue with C and C++ because I have everything needed for
> the work and with Ada nothing. :-(

SofCheck has a compiler that outputs ANSI C, so that's another avenue for using
Ada on this platform.

--
Jeff Carter
"Go and boil your bottoms."
Monty Python & the Holy Grail
01

stepha...@neuf.fr

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May 1, 2008, 4:07:25 PM5/1/08
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On 29 avr, 23:47, "Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter....@spam.acm.org>
wrote:

Hi there,

To quote Ivan, " If you want to get to the top, you have to start at
the bottom".

For the moment I am learning Ada, so I am actually at the bottom.

And I have no idea where is the top... :-)

On my hardware I can play with :
- our own Real Time OS written in C, and a GNU gcc tool chain
together with an Hitex Windows IDE,
- WinCE, we have a BSP for it and Embedded Visual tools which allows
me to write C / C++,
- and for Linux, a BSP and a gcc tool chain.

And nothing for Ada.

I have some interest in learning Ada, found an elegant and powerfull
language, with nice features that could lead to something like Java
"program once, run everywhere" but in a compiled fashion.

So, I have bought nice books with stars and orchyds and started to
learn both on a windows and a linux machine with AdaGIDE and GPS.

I was not too much impressed by AdaGIDE and got some problems with GPS
on windows so now I stick on my Linux machine with GPS and for the
moment I am glad.

That said, one can see that he absolutely must stop considering me as
a future customer as I cannot afford the money to spend on tools for
highly skilled personnel. I am just a beggar like Aqualung.

Of course, if I could impress my customers with wonderfull tools and
apps that might change...

But for the moment, I feel a lack with affordable tools and libraries.

That' all for today folks !

Tomorrow, I'll be on my Moto Guzzi with my wife riding to Corsica...

No more computers for a few days !

Best Regards
Stéphane

Jeffrey R. Carter

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May 1, 2008, 5:36:41 PM5/1/08
to
stepha...@neuf.fr wrote:
> For the moment I am learning Ada, so I am actually at the bottom.
>
> And I have no idea where is the top... :-)
>
> On my hardware I can play with :
> - our own Real Time OS written in C, and a GNU gcc tool chain
> together with an Hitex Windows IDE,
> - WinCE, we have a BSP for it and Embedded Visual tools which allows
> me to write C / C++,
> - and for Linux, a BSP and a gcc tool chain.
>
> And nothing for Ada.
>
> I have some interest in learning Ada, found an elegant and powerfull
> language, with nice features that could lead to something like Java
> "program once, run everywhere" but in a compiled fashion.
>
> So, I have bought nice books with stars and orchyds and started to
> learn both on a windows and a linux machine with AdaGIDE and GPS.
>
> I was not too much impressed by AdaGIDE and got some problems with GPS
> on windows so now I stick on my Linux machine with GPS and for the
> moment I am glad.
>
> That said, one can see that he absolutely must stop considering me as
> a future customer as I cannot afford the money to spend on tools for
> highly skilled personnel. I am just a beggar like Aqualung.

Sorry. When you talked about "our customers" and what they use, I presumed you
were looking for ways to use Ada professionally. Trying to use Ada on Wince is
probably not the best way to learn the language. GNAT on Linux is an easy and
inexpensive way to learn the language.

> But for the moment, I feel a lack with affordable tools and libraries.

Have you looked at adapower.com and adaworld.com?

> Tomorrow, I'll be on my Moto Guzzi with my wife riding to Corsica...

That sounds like a good way to get wet.

--
Jeff Carter
"This trial is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a
sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham. ...
Do you realize there's not a single homosexual on that jury?"
Bananas
27

Philippe Bertin

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May 2, 2008, 6:03:13 AM5/2/08
to
> On my hardware there is an ARM CPU and I have a C/C++ Toolchain
> working together with a Linux BSP.
> What would be the steps to compile the Ada runtime and tailor the
> toolchain so it compiles Ada applications ?

Stephane,

In WinCE there's always a platform builder involved. Depending on your
target platform, the separate (C/C++) header files may or may not be
available. This depends on how the target platform was built. This
"target platform build" step will most probably be done by some senior
programmer or some software project responsible, who knows which
libraries/drivers are available and which ones aren't on the target
platform.

Now C/C++ header file availability isn't of that much interest to an
Ada programmer. But with the above in mind, I doubt if there can be
any "globally usable" WinCE port available for Ada, as every single
port should be able to provide you the platform library (sub)set which
is appropriate for the specific target platform...

Kind regards,

PhB

Rob Veenker

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May 6, 2008, 2:02:20 PM5/6/08
to
stepha...@neuf.fr wrote:

AdaCore has already developed a GNATPro for .Net which generates true MSIL
code. (GNATPro means it is a supported version; don't know about a possible
public release)
I noticed that they also got JGNAT running again. JGNAT is an Ada compiler
for the Java runtime environment. We have actually used JGNAT on WinCE /
Personal Java a couple of years back :-)

And there also exists a public (Ada 95) version of A# under sourceforge:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/asharp

Hope this helps,
Rob

Rob Veenker

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May 6, 2008, 2:45:58 PM5/6/08
to
Rob Veenker wrote:

Just forgot to mention that GNATPro for .Net and A# also run on the .Net
compact framework for WinCE! I even have Ada running on my cell phone :-)

Rob

Pascal Obry

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May 6, 2008, 4:44:21 PM5/6/08
to Rob Veenker
Rob,

> Just forgot to mention that GNATPro for .Net and A# also run on the .Net
> compact framework for WinCE! I even have Ada running on my cell phone :-)

Would probably be nice to write a clear tutorial on how to do a Hello
World with Ada with the compact framework on a cell phone!

Pascal.

--

--|------------------------------------------------------
--| Pascal Obry Team-Ada Member
--| 45, rue Gabriel Peri - 78114 Magny Les Hameaux FRANCE
--|------------------------------------------------------
--| http://www.obry.net
--| "The best way to travel is by means of imagination"
--|
--| gpg --keyserver wwwkeys.pgp.net --recv-key C1082595

Rob Veenker

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May 7, 2008, 2:23:03 PM5/7/08
to
Pascal Obry wrote:

> Rob,
>
>> Just forgot to mention that GNATPro for .Net and A# also run on the .Net
>> compact framework for WinCE! I even have Ada running on my cell phone :-)
>
> Would probably be nice to write a clear tutorial on how to do a Hello
> World with Ada with the compact framework on a cell phone!
>
> Pascal.
>

There already exists a tutorial on A# for PDA's, last held at SigAda 2006.
The only change for cell phones is that cell phones have a limited UI.
You could however still use the M$ Visual studio (C#) to build the gui so
you know that part is ok and add Ada code in a .Net assembly.
For deployment all you need to do is copy the A# runtime libraries onto your
cell phone and add your own application assembly.

Not too much magic here :-)

To keep it all in Ada, you can probably also use Rapid for the gui part but
I am not sure all the calls performed by rapid are supported in the compact
framework.

Rob


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