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Date: 19 Dec 92 07:17:06 GMT
From: usc!sdd.hp.com!think.com!yale.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!hellgate
.utah.edu!csn!raven!rcd@uunet.uu.net  (Dick Dunn)
Subject: Re: Lets split comp.lang.ada into multiple groups to confine flames
Message-ID: <1992Dec19.071706@eklektix.com>
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

ryer@inmet.camb.inmet.com (Mike Ryer) writes:
>So, lets hear from the major contributors to the langage wars -- would
>you agree to post only on the comp.lang.relative.merits (or whatever) group?

Such a group would get old quickly (not to say that discussion has died out
in, e.g., talk.politics:-) and probably only a few real flamers would
bother with it.

One thing to consider is that the +/- Ada campaigns in the language wars
have a slightly different color:  We find some shred of reason to doubt
Ada's future, and toss it out.  It's like shouting "THEATER!" at a crowded
fire...everyone assumes his role and begins posturing as the flames rise.
This *does* give some of the "mine's bigger!"-"no way!" disputes that are
at the core of most language wars, but the difference with an Ada language
war is that it often starts with kindling doubt of whether Ada can make it
in the long run...and even the arguments that don't start there almost
always devolve to that.  It's a good way to get Ada folks away from their
work and into insecurely contemplating their collective navel (while the
other language partisans address the survival of their languages by
writing code with them;-).

Stated another way, I see a qualitative difference in that the challenges
to Ada are often not really "x vs y" but simply "not x".  Other languages
enter into the discussion as examples.  It's hard to siphon off discussions
like that in a "relative merits" discussion, because so much of it is
focused only on Ada, therefore arguably pertinent to Ada.  The whole
range--from the responses to Holden's occasional incendiary lob into the
group, to Aharonian's impassioned pleas for people to wake up and look
around--is dealt with introspectively.  What I'm pointing out here--the
self-doubt and extensive rationalizing (whether needed or not) of the Ada
community--has to be considered in how to get unproductive discussions out
of the way.
-- 
Dick Dunn    rcd@eklektix.com   -or-   raven!rcd    Boulder, Colorado USA
   ...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."