From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: *** X-Spam-Status: No, score=3.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID, RATWARE_MS_HASH,RATWARE_OUTLOOK_NONAME autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1014db,dab7d920e4340f12 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,dab7d920e4340f12 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Tim Behrendsen" Subject: Re: C is 'better' than Ada because... Date: 1996/08/01 Message-ID: <01bb7fce$60d9d620$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 171434941 references: <4tk93t$o7a@Masala.CC.UH.EDU><01bb7e29$61e3d260$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 organization: A-SIS mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c Date: 1996-08-01T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Jon S Anthony wrote in article ... > In article <01bb7e29$61e3d260$87ee6fce@timpent.airshields.com> "Tim Behrendsen" writes: > > > Unfortunately, it's difficult to discuss comparative language > > issues without needing to intersperse "This is not a bait!" > > between each sentence. I started the thread admitting that > > I know nothing, and at least trying to assure people that I was > > I think part of the problem here is that despite some of your comments > to the contrary, you really do seem set in your ways. Old dog new trick > problems and all that. So, it is not much use responding to most of what > you have to say. Still, this one point: I am a *very* conservative programmer. I believe in the tried and true, and letting *other* pioneers take the arrows. It's the people that follow the pioneers that build the cities. > > sincerely interested in discussing why C has become extremely > > popular, but Ada seems mired in more the "big iron" worlds. > > is really odd. I'm not sure there even is any Ada in the "big iron" > worlds. That is the land of COBOL and more recently some success with > Smalltalk. I have never used Ada on "big iron" and have used it on > and for several years. In the last year or so, we have gone > completely over to use of Ada95 pretty much exclusively. Our > platforms are various UNI* and Win* stuff. It is worth noting that > the Ada95 on Win* is either free (GNAT with self extracting installer > and all) or cheap (ObjectAda from Tomson offering a full Win* > environment). > > The problem here isn't so much that you don't have a clue (as you > admit) but rather that you don't appear to want one. The fact that I put my ignorance out for public display means I am interested in gaining "a clue". It's not just that I'm curious about Ada (which I am), but I'm also curious why some languages become more popular than others. I have heard very few criticisms of Ada, which is quite remarkable. Given the rarity of criticism, it makes me wonder what keeps it out of the mainstream, or at the very least, under the radar of popular programming culture.