Re: Computerworld Focus on OOP is good obituary for Ada

[tinton.ccur.com!cjh@princeton.edu (Christopher J. Henrich)]

In <SRCTRAN.93Jun14142701@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharoni
an) writes:


>   The June 14 issue of Computerworld, pages 107 to 123, presents a guide
>to object oriented programming products, companies and tools.  ADA IS NOT
>MENTIONED ONCE.  What two languages were covered in the Buyers' Scorecard
>of user satsifaction ratings?   ParcPlace's and Digitalk's Smalltalk, and
>Borland's and Microsoft's C++.  Eight full pages of commentary on OOP and
>not one mention of Ada.

Greg makes a valid point here.  I can't find the issue of CW to which
he refers, but I am willing to conjecture that this guide includes
the C++ library supported by Rational - i.e. the Booch components.
If so, why not the Ada version of the same library?

Is there a spokesman for Rational who can answer this?

Let's not be diverted by the idea that CW made the editorial decision
to keep silent about Ada.  I doubt very much that CW has made
any principled decision to refuse to let the name of "that woman"
pass its lips.  The decision may have happened by default, when a
spokesman for Rational said, "We support this nifty library in C++" and
did not also say, "and in Ada, and wait till you *see* what we're
going to do with Ada9X!  ... You didn't know about Ada9X?  Let
me fill you in! It's got marvellous object-oriented features..."

I don't know what happened.  The ball was dropped; maybe by
Computerworld, maybe by somebody else.  Perhaps it is time for
us readers of comp.lang.ada to play Monday-morning quarterback and
write letters to Computerworld.

Once upon a time, pornography and condoms were sold under the
counter.  They weren't advertised; you had to know where to go, and
you had to ask.  Today, it seems that Ada salesmanship is almost that
quiet.  If you go to Ada Letters, you can find a list of products
and their supporters; if you ask, you can get what you need.

Thanks to the DoD, and thanks to its much-maligned Mandate, Ada
exists now.  And many individuals and firms have made a commitment to
her^H^H^H it.  In today's world, if we mean to keep up that
commitment, we probably have to be noisy about it.  Under-the-counter
marketing is not enough.  (Not even for condoms.)

Regards,
Chris Henrich