Re: When cross-posting, don't annoy the pig

["Marin D. Condic" <mcondic-nospam@quadruscorp.com>]

swhalen@netcom.com wrote:
> 
> I'd vote for a combination of the two: Post the mini-FAQ you refer to
> and when an opportunity arises, reply with a reference to the mini-FAQ
> and a snippet of code appropriate to the topic showing how much "better"
> the solution is in Ada (and reposting the mini-FAQ if it's been a
> while and might have scrolled off their news server).
> 
I think that the best way of evangelizing without becoming a nuisance is
to look at other groups for questions/problems that are somewhat general
in nature where one can respond with "The way I would do that is....."
and provide an Ada answer. Not a bad idea to throw in the usual pitches
such as: "Of course doing it in Ada gives you <insert benefit here> as
opposed to doing in in C/C++/Whatever where you have the problem of
<insert liability here>...." It provides some exposure to Ada and
illustrates the technical advantages without being on a soapbox or
trying to make others feel stupid/inferior for using whatever language
they are using.

People will understand and follow benefits, but they also tend to go
with what they know rather than the unknown. (That in itself is a
benefit). Gentle exposure to Ada helps make it something that they know.


> Of course, I'm somewhat ambivalent about proselytizing Ada too much <g>.
> To a certain degree, I consider using Ada a competitive advantage:
> if "they" want to write bug riddled code in those other languages,
> let them <g>!
> 
I understand. Ada is a competitive advantage and can be demonstrated as
such. However, the game is a little like Las Vegas: Casinos benefit by
the presence of other casinos because it creates a draw that brings more
people to town than a single establishment would. A small slice of a
really big pie is better than owning all of a very small pie.

MDC
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