Re: Desirability of C++

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

Tarjei T. Jensen wrote:
> If I were hiring Ada programmers I would try to structure my efforts and plan
> ahead.
> 
Ahhhh, if only such luxury were available to us. :-) As with many things
in life, this is a very difficult thing to anticipate. Especially for a
small company.

> I would try to make sure that students which are trained in Ada would know
<good ideas snipped>

These things may be possible for companies that are on the scale of
General Motors or Lockheed Martin, but may well be out of reach for most
moderate sized companies. And remember, a copmany's reason for existence
is *not* to promote some specific technology, but to *make money*. Under
that objective you have to make the case that money spent on technology
X is going to reap more than money spent on technology Y. Even if Ada
has lower life cycle costs, that doesn't automatically mean it makes
more money for the company than using some other language might. Adding
expense to boost recruitment of Ada programmers makes Ada yet again more
expensive. Windows Visual C++ with MFC for a few hundred $ and an add in
the paper offering 5% more than the rest of the world for a C++
programmer starts looking more and more attractive.

> Sure I would be spending some money, but compared to the potential productivity
> gains it would give if I could get the people I want it would be a pittance.
> And perhaps also tax deductible.
> 
This is an interesting assumption. I hate to pick on someone's optimism,
but in the world of business, you can't let such interesting assumptions
go unchallenged. Exactly how much do you propose to spend? And exactly
how much do you anticipate getting back on this investment over how many
years? What discount rate are you going to apply? What if the world
changes dramatically before I see these returns?

The question is never that simple. Someone has to actually put down some
numbers and commit to a course of action based on those numbers. The
"philosophical" approach is only useful for generating potential ideas
or looking for fundamental flaws. Sooner or later you have to get down
to math and we Ada advocates *must* make a solid business case for it if
we expect to sell it.

> Lastly, a message from the campaign for mor technical Ada articles: You want
> Ada programmers? Write those articles in Dr. Dobbs and get Ada noticed. If
> there is an occational Ada related article in Dr. Dobbs then a lot of the FUD
> we are used to would go away.
> 
A very solid suggestion. Many technical publications have a hard enough
time getting articles at all, much less well written articles on
interesting subjects with a fresh, new approach. Getting Ada articles
published in places where normally one sees C++/Java/etc. helps expose
the language to those who might otherwise know nothing about it.

MDC
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Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/
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"I'd trade it all for just a little more"
    --  Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10]
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