Re: Ichbiah's Letter

[David Botton <david@botton.com>]

I never saw the original letter, he was exactly on the mark!

<<I was also seeing a risk that the Ada community would not follow if the
intellectual "distance" and the upward incompatibility were too high.>>

Things just keep getting worse at least in terms of intellectual "distance", there is _no_ effort being made by any company right not bring the more general aspect of Ada and its benefits to the average programmer. (I'm going to do my part to change that... I like a challenge)

<<I was also hoping that it would be ultimately possible to dress
the new concepts in a simpler, more regular, more attractive, more beautiful
syntax, which could redeem some of the complexity>>

He is my hero! I knew I was not alone in the universe.

<< I have encountered an unusual degree of intolerance to outside contributions>>

Wow, I thought it was just to me since I tend to make spelling errors, love to be chatty when I write code and am a "street" programmer not an Academic.

<<More than most people, I am driven by aesthetic considerations and the strong belief that only beautiful shape can be correct shape.>>

If I had read this when he was alive I would have made a point to visit him, what a shame I never thought to investigate then. He is like my programming spirit mentor. I think I understand my affinity to Ada now.

I write my API first then make the code fit it later to try and force the beauty in to it.

I can't stomach the ridiculous thin (even hand done) binding that ignores the language idioms and its beauty. Last night I wanted to puke looking at how C like the Ada binding to Cairo was. I saw a hundred ways to make it beautiful.

<<coldly logic, ultimately ugly - the engineers had it their way and had Ada
9X become Ada with null>>

I bow to the master. Finally logic, sense. The crowning reality of why Ada never manages to get ahead beyond a small Niche. Technically right, but in context off the mark.

<<I consider the lack of interfaces to be the most severe
impediment to increasing usage of Ada - witness the absence of a credible
Ada solution for Windows development - and this diversion of resources from
interfaces severely diminishes the chances for Ada's long term success>>

WOW!! If you only knew the ____extreme____ push back I got form inside AdaCore to push for GWindows or other "interfaces" I've come up with to be supported (so I could continue working on them and get paid to do them)... It is my entire argument for 10 years with key people. I wonder if I am related to this guy!!!

<<Ada struck at the right level:
more complex than Pascal - since it offered facilities that the users needed
- - but not as complex as C++.>>

It is still true thanks to C++ getting even more complex the Ada right around 9X as well.

It is _why_ I love Ada and am still sticking it out.

<<So it meant that average programmers could
develop a level of command of its concepts with which they could develop
programs whose structure, actions, and consequences they understood and
mastered - an absolute requirement for reliability.>>

Finally someone who speaks sense and shows why this is more important that pre and post conditions! Which is not a bad thing to add but is not what will ever make Ada the right choice for most projects.

<<We run the risk of missing the window of opportunity.>>

AND THEY DID! They instead made Ada into a niche language. He is a prophet.

I am hoping Gnoga and future efforts like it by others can still get Ada back in the door of the average user project.

I'll do my part! I will try.

<<The words we use influence the concepts>>

So true, I know it is my weak point.

<<The priority for OOP comes from a real market requirement - these features
will attract new users to Ada>>

Yes 95 really blew it.
Ada OO "looked like" doing OO with Perl ! Still only a bit better.

<<part of the effort to interface Ada with the outside world>>

Yip, still a major issue. Look what it took to make GnatCOM work. I had to implement the entire C++ virtual class structures in Ada.

<<the presence in 9X of features that they do not use could be an argument for not using the language>>

And the continual slide to make Ada in to SPARK is going to bury it forever in a niche market if we don't get some work to bring Ada to the applications world. Which there is no funding or support to do by what exists now, all volunteer work.

<<In acknowledgment of the fact that it has not been possible for me to make
an effective contribution, and also in view of my reluctance to be
associated with something whose complexity I disapprove and whose aesthetics I can neither see nor share>>

I am truly wishing I could have sat down with this man and been so honored.

I only wish I had seen this 10 years ago, I would have fought harder and stayed around the Ada community.

Oh well. I think there is another chance and window of opportunity. I'll just make the fight now.

David Botton