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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,27c65a5d645381b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Mike Silva" Subject: Re: When cross-posting, don't annoy the pig Date: 1999/12/23 Message-ID: <26x84.28$WC4.6167@news.wenet.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 564337614 References: <38600FF9.4B3BE3CA@averstar.com> <1999Dec23.140731.1@eisner> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 X-Complaints-To: news@wenet.net X-Trace: news.wenet.net 945987070 206.169.137.33 (Thu, 23 Dec 1999 14:11:10 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1999 14:11:10 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-12-23T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Larry Kilgallen wrote in message <1999Dec23.140731.1@eisner>... >In article , "Mike Silva" writes: >> I've been thinking about this since it was posted, and I agree that >> gratuitous (key word!) Ada references are to be avoided. Still, in many >> language-neutral groups that are quite relevant to Ada there seems to be an >> unspoken C/C++ "assumption". I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to >> post some form of Ada mini-FAQ to these groups, not covering the entire >> language in detail, but focusing on those areas of the language which are >> appropriate to the particular newsgroup. > >I think a FAQ in that environment comes across as too evangelistic. >My preference is to wait until someone asks for a sample of code and >does not indicate that only C (or only Fortran) is acceptable. Then >giving them the solution in Ada can often get the point across but >with somewhat of a lower degree of rant. Of course this works best >when what they are trying to do is a lot easier in Ada. That's interesting, because I've always thought of FAQs as entirely non-intrusive, which is why I suggested the possibility. I've never seen anybody complain about the posting of a FAQ. While I agree that giving Ada-specific answers to general questions is also legitimate, they *do* often provoke people (e.g. "Oh, sure, I'm just going to toss out all my C++ code!" when no mention of the language was originally given -- the unspoken assumption again), and they can often be "lost" in a non-intuitive or specialized thread, meaning only a few people might notice them. It'll be interesting to see if there's a concensus here one way or the other. Mike