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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,a0be06fbc0dd71f1 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news4.google.com!feeder1-2.proxad.net!proxad.net!feeder1-1.proxad.net!feeder.news-service.com!sn-xt-ams-06!sn-xt-ams-08!sn-ams!sn-feed-ams-02!sn-post-ams-01!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail From: "Phaedrus" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: The future of Ada is at risk Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:04:50 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <13nek962cd55t08@corp.supernews.com> References: <20071229040639.f753f982.coolzone@it.dk> X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Original X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:19075 Date: 2007-12-30T00:04:50-08:00 List-Id: Take a look at this: http://www.st.cs.uni-sb.de/edu/seminare/2005/advanced-fp/docs/sweeny.pdf The game development guys realize the need for a new language. Doesn't the language he describes sound a little familiar? Lots of Ada-esque stuff there. Sure, there's a lot of work to be done before Ada is really practical for game development, but it's certainly do-able. Remember, the game market is a lot bigger than the old military market ever was. Just a few things will have to change before it's worth-while. You're right, only one real compiler exists and it's horribly expensive for commercial work. (Isn't it interesting that they claim to only charge for "support", but then force anyone who uses the free compiler to release their developed software for free? *sigh*) Along that line, a lot of current Ada packages have been infected with the dreaded GPL-itis. That make them unusable for commercial stuff, too. But mostly I think that it's the nature of the mindset behind a lot of packages that would need to change. Getting those 50 - 60Hz updates isn't easy! Just my $.02 worth. Brian "Rico Secada" wrote in message news:20071229040639.f753f982.coolzone@it.dk... >I have been doing a lot of research about the usage of Ada, both in > industry and in the Open Source community. I am possible writing a paper > on the issue and needs some constructive criticism. > > I have reached the following conclusions: > > 1. Many companies are moving away from Ada towards C/C++. Many has > already moved during the past 10 years. > > 2. Very few projects exists on Sourceforge and Freshmeat compared to > other languages like C++, Java, Python and others. > > Only 92 projects on Sourceforge.net and 57 on Freshmeat.net. > > 3. This is the biggest problem: Ada lacks free support on all > platforms. The GNU GNAT Compiler is the only Open Source compiler, and > it lacks proper support and implementation on a variety of platforms. > > The different GNU/Linux implementations of GNAT and the different BSD > implementations seems to miss different aspects making it impossible to > port larger projects without having to buy a proprietary compiler. > > My study shows, from searching around different mailing list archives > on GNU/Linux and BSD, that people are very attracted towards Ada, but > because of a poor implementation on different platforms when compared > to C and C++ people stay away and focus on those languages instead. > > Problems with GNU GNAT and platform independence seems to be the one > major reason why Ada isn't a moving target. > > I would like your comments on this please! > > Best regards. > > Rico Secada.