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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5cb36983754f64da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-04-16 17:38:23 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!01cc3b7c!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Richard Riehle" From: "Richard Riehle" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <20040206174017.7E84F4C4114@lovelace.ada-france.org><54759e7e.0402071124.322ea376@posting.google.com><406EB6D2.8030801@noplace.com><87d66pyw1g.fsf@insalien.org><406EEC35.7040109@noplace.com><874qs0zvy1.fsf@insalien.org><40714C98.90601@noplace.com><1073gv22t969q5a@corp.supernews.com><40729B9D.30906@noplace.com> <10760hq4hahaa25@corp.supernews.com> Subject: Re: No call for Ada (was Re: Announcing newscripting/prototypinglanguage) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 Message-ID: <20%fc.13527$k05.10494@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net> Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:38:22 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.216.202 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net 1082162302 66.81.216.202 (Fri, 16 Apr 2004 17:38:22 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 17:38:22 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7236 Date: 2004-04-17T00:38:22+00:00 List-Id: "Randy Brukardt" wrote in message news:10760hq4hahaa25@corp.supernews.com... > "Marius Amado Alves" wrote in message > news:mailman.193.1081267703.327.comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org... > > > You can't really mean that, can you? Luck is the only thing that makes > > > anybody or anything successful?... > > > > I too was suprised by Randy's extreme pessimism. I'm sure he was > > hiperbolizing and not giving up on writing good software :-) > > I'm not giving up on writing good software, but I have little hope that > anyone else will. I don't expect that Randy will ever stop striving for excellent software quality. He has always been passionate about avoiding "ugly code" (a phrase I have heard him use often), and somewhat unforgiving of bad code that originates elsewhere. Yet, there is sometimes a point where one can no longer be charming in a discussion such as this. If an honest assessment is to be charaterized as pessimism, so be it. That fact is that many Ada stalwarts have reached a point where their idealism has been exhausted and they must face the reality of the marketplace. Many of us beleived that Ada was the right choice. In my case, I believed it was, and is, the right choice for dependable military software. Randy has had a larger vision, and he has put his professional life on the line in pursuing that vision. The fact that the larger software community is so easily seduced into choices that are so bad for everyone is not accepted lightly by those who have a different view. My concern is, and has been for a long time, the quality and dependability of military software. The choices now being made are dreadful. Randy created a product that should have made Ada an attractive option for the Microsoft environment, well beyond weapon systems. When the DoD abrogated Ada and abandoned it to mercurial decision-making of contractors, it was a slap in the face to people such as Randy who invested so much and earned so little. His dedication to quality cannot be impeached. But he has a right to be a little bit pessimistic about the future. Richard Riehle