Ada, open source software and Linux

[fmdf@tiscali.it]

Ciao,

Sorry for the other same subject yet empty post... I've pressed enter
too soon.

I am going to write a few pages article about Ada for an Italian Linux
and Open Source devoted magazine. It'll be just an introduction article
to the language main features and great capabilities, it won't be a
very technical detailed one.

Some subjects that come to my mind are: what is Ada, some History, who
use it, why Ada (readability, expressiveness, maintainability,
efficiency, reliability, times and costs, portability, etc.), a few
notes about Ada and C/C++ safety and reliability, and eventually a
mini-tour of the main features and strenghts, Linux support of Ada
(GCC/GNAT, GDB, GPS, GtkAda, etc.).

Here comes where I ask for some help from you all. I also want to write
something much closer to the interests of the audience, that is Linux
OS and Open Source Programming. Many of them are used to write mostly
C/C++ open source programs (when not using some very high level
language like Python and Perl) and I would like to make them understand
that (1) Ada is not just another more or less useless programming
language, (2) that it is worth investing some time to learn and use it
and (3) that Ada can be a very powerful tool for open source
programming especially where a lot of people is involved. I am
particularly afraid of many C/C++ programmers won't bother even to hear
about Ada or any other language.

So, have you got any thoughts about these three subjects? Any
suggestion on how to treat this matter? Any hint would be appreciated,
yet please don't stuck only on safety related stuff (many programmers
swear they know how to avoid common problems, even when you catch them
while going crazy hunting for bugs with a debugger).

Editorial staff asked me to provide a draft, while the publication has
yet to be approved and it depends on how much this subject they think
would be interesting to their readers (and obviously on how good the
article itself would be). I hope that it will contribute, even if
marginally, to the knowledge and appreciation of Ada in that little
Italian community of Linux programmers and users.

Thank you all for your precious time spent on this message.

Regards,

fabio de francesco