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=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,b19fa62fdce575f9 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-12-19 16:06:46 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!news.cac.psu.edu!news.pop.psu.edu!psuvax1!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!gatech!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!darwin.sura.net!wvnvms!marshall.wvnet.edu!marshall.edu!hathawa2 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Array mappings Message-ID: <1994Dec19.015302@hobbit> From: hathawa2@marshall.edu (Mark S. Hathaway) Date: 19 Dec 94 01:53:02 EDT References: <9412061309.AA02026@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu> <3csnqi$3ee@felix.seas.gwu.edu> <3d2qk0$qop@felix.seas.gwu.edu> Organization: Marshall University Nntp-Posting-Host: frodo.marshall.edu Date: 1994-12-19T01:53:02-04:00 List-Id: > In article <3d2qk0$qop@felix.seas.gwu.edu>, > mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes: >> In article , >> Rolf Ebert wrote: >>When I started to work in a thermal engineering lab about 5 years ago, >>we all decided to use Ada for our every day programming and for the one >>big simulation project. Most of the engineers only had Fortran >>experience and had already a lot of code that we wanted reuse by >>interfacing from Ada. > Finally! A note from someone who was there! >>Fortran friendly arrays would have been a big advantage, but Ada failed >>for other reasons, too. Some problems were calculating exp(2x) instead >>of exp(x) (we lost a whole week on this), not correctly passsing >>parameters from the 7th parameter on, etc... Yes, I know these are >>compiler issues, but Ada was blamed for it. > Certainly they were. I doubt they would've had the energy or money, > or inclination, to shop for another, less buggy compiler. Presumably > they spent a big chunk of the budget on the buggy one... >>Today nobody uses Ada anymore in this lab. They all turned back to >>Fortran and C. > Deep sigh. I rest my case. An Ada implementer who really cared about this > potential market would've delivered compilers that did the right thing > for this group of customers. First, let me say that there is good reason for optimism. Ada95 should dispell many of the doubts and comparison problems (to C or C++) and that should help keep Ada alive and well. Now the bad news. :-) Many people feel that anything the U.S. government touches turns to crap. That feeling toward the government has probably shaded the opinions of many people toward Ada ('83) or Ada95. A superior product might help turn that opinion around, but it will require much effort and salesmanship. The problems of wooing Fortran users is an example of the problem. If there was an attitude that encouraged the migration ofFortran users, or even COBOL users, to Ada95 rather than just the efforts to produce a superior product then maybe Ada95 could grow more. To expect these people to move to Ada 95 without providing a smooth transition path is hopeful, but not necessarily going to be fruitful. C and C++ have had "the jump" on Ada and Modula-n in several instances, but I think Ada95, as a language, probably deserves more support than C++. There will have to be a free enterprise spirit to go after market share for it to catch up. If it remains the province of government deparments who may not even want it then it will probably just die a slow lingering death. Semper fi, and all that kinda stuff Mark S. Hathaway