Re: integer'image

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <14613@june.cs.washington.edu> pattis@cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) writes:
>
>Let's get back to convincing Ada compiler developers that they can all
>get rich by selling cheaply priced student compilers (and then make even
>more money by selling these students special packages that perform such
>conversions).

You're right, Rich. I've been operating on a couple of levels:

1. convince the Ada community to find nice, lucrative ways of expanding the
   Ada market, especially by hooking students and teachers on Ada, which we
   all know will have good long-term effects, as was the case with nearly
   every other language.

2. make sure that the Ada9x folks do the right thing, especially when it
   comes to little, "stupid," nonuniformities in the language that make it
   hard to learn and teach - of which the attribute system is the best
   example. I believe these little oversights can be _easily_ rectified
   given the will to do so, with little compilation or runtime penalty.
   Ada9x will be much more salable to engineers and - especially - to
   information systems folks - if more attention is paid to stuff like
   this. There are lots of little places where Ada gives with one hand
   and takes with the other, and there don't seem to be good justifications,
   just human frailty in the design. These can be fixed, given the will.

OK, enough.

Mike