Re: The future of Ada

[kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <36E690FA.4B9C@sandia.gov>, Gordon Dodrill <gjdodri@sandia.gov> writes:
> A few weeks ago someone in this newsgroup mentioned that 
> Ada is a $100M industry.  If this number is reasonable, 
> then assuming a loaded salary of $120K per year, there are
> only about 830 full time Ada developers.

Wouldn't that be 830 people working full time on Ada compilers
and ancillary tools ?  That includes marketeers, but it certainly
does not include customers.

> Ten months into the project, the project leader announced
> very abruptly that Ada would be scrapped, C++ would be used,
> and there would be a six month slip in the project to permit
> training in C++ and rewriting the  completed Ada code.  His 
> reason - "There may not be any Ada programmers to do 
> maintenance several years from now, but we will always be 
> able to get C++ programmers."

Certainly one can look to other languages like Fortran and Cobol
where all programmers who knew the language suddenly disappeared
as soon as Visual C++ was released.  The same is likely to happen
for C++ programmers as soon as Java predominates.  I believe they
all joined the Mother Ship hiding behind that comet, or was it the
Borg who carted them away...

Counting on hiring people who know only one language and also
_cannot_be_trained_ seems like a risky way to run a business.
Even if the language they know is the one to be used, hiring
the untrainable is not a swift move.

> I am obviously frustrated.  How can I continue to promote 
> the use of Ada when the numbers mentioned in the first two 
> paragraphs above indicate a lack of growth in Ada compared
> to the other languages?  Any thoughts, either positive or
> negative, will be appreciated.

Obviously there are more than 830 people working on C++ compilers.
In fact, there may be more than 830 C++ compilers.  Certainly one
important aspect of marketing is product differentiation.  Surely
one must pause to contemplate a "standard" language that leaves
so much room for differentiation.

The metric in computing, as in many other endeavors, should be
how successful you are at doing it your way, rather than how many
other people are doing it your way.

As to why managers might make decisions on any other basis,
the UPN television stations are now broadcasting throughout
the US weekly showings of "Dilbert".

Larry Kilgallen