Re: A question for my personal knowledge.

[Roy Grimm <ragrimm@bigfoot.com>]

Siamak Kaveh wrote:
> 
> Hello Everybody,
> 
> Accepting that Ada is one of the best available programming languages, the
> following question comes to my mind: Why BIG PLAYERS of computer industry
> (IBM, HP, COMPAQ(Digital), CRAY, Microsoft, SUN...) don't develop their
> native ADA compiler? (or they disconnected their development).

Many of the "big players" would not necessarily agree with your
assertion that Ada is one of the best available programming languages. 
Hence, they see no need to make a compiler.

Beyond that, they have a fair amount of legacy support for the languages
they do use.  It costs money to develop a new compiler for their systems
for a language that isn't as widely used as, say, C/C++, COBOL, FORTRAN,
etc.

In addition, there is a cultural issue.  Ada was generated as a result
of the U.S. DoD mandating one language for most of their systems.  Many
people still see Ada as a "government language", regardless of the true
nature of it.  People's opinion has a lot more weight than the facts in
this case.

> Do their engineers and managers understand that using ADA can improve
> quality of their software?

First off, many people will contend your assertion that using Ada, by
itself, can improve the quality of their software.  Facts aside, many
people believe that the language choice does not matter.  Until there
are significant quantitative analyses for managers to be shown, the
discussion will continue back and forth.

Second, there are many legacy systems in this world and converting them
to a new language is prohibitively expensive.  That's why you still see
jobs for COBOL programmers.

Third, training a programming team a new language is expensive.  Not
only do you have to provide the training, you have to pay the
programmers for the "dead time".  Many companies are not willing to take
the short term expense.

Fourth, there is a Catch-22 situation.  There aren't too many Ada
programmers out there which make many managers use other languages in
order to find people to work for them.  But, the lack of projects means
there's no incentive for people to learn Ada.  This industry has a lot
more inertia than one might realize.

> Siamak,
> 
> Please note this question is only for my personal knowledge and I have no
> intention to start any never-ending dispute. If you think your response can
> start a religious war please neglect this question.

I'm not interested in holy wars.  I just call 'em like I see 'em. 
Nevertheless, I think that by merely asking the question, you will have
started a holy war in one form or another...

-- 
Windows98 (noun)- 32 bit extensions and a graphical shell for a 16 bit
patch to an 8 bit operating system originally coded for a 4 bit
microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that can't stand 1 bit of
competition.