Re: Ada callable from Visual Basic?

[Al Christians <achrist@easystreet.com>]

Larry Kilgallen wrote:

>> And what assurance do you have that the Visual Basic you get in 12
months will be the "same" as the Visual Basic you have today. Just
which standards bodies make Microsoft toe the line on compatibility.
This week press reports make it seem that not even a legal contract
with Sun will make Microsoft stick to a language definition.  <<


I have seen a growing consensus amongst developers targeting MS Windows
that the long life cycle is hopeless in that environment.  They admit
that the RAD tools seduce even good developers into creating lamentably
unmaintainable programs.  Yet, they are resigned to a 'why fight it?'
attitude, knowing that they can find work next year to replace the
results of this year's rush projects.  When nothing that your program
has to talk to is expected to last more than three years 
(the OS, the hardware, the network, the database, etc), what good does
it do to try to build anything to last longer?  What difference does it
make if when your program gets rewritten along with everything else,
that it's going to be rewritten in the same or a different version of
the same or a different language?

Maybe the disposable software vendors have established a position that
puts non-disposable software producers at a serious disadvantage in the
mainstream.  You don't give your customer much extra value by
engineering your product to go 30 years between failures if his OS fails
every 30 minutes.   You don't give your customer much extra value by
engineering your product to be maintainable for 30 years, when your
competitors will make your products look obsolete every 30 months.

Al