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: 103376,54c513170bafd693 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Marin D. Condic" Subject: Re: Desirability of C++ Date: 2000/04/15 Message-ID: <38F8B271.F5986EF1@quadruscorp.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 611534388 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <01HW.B4BFC2820005B06B08A24140@news.pacbell.net> <20000204073443.24976.00001288@ng-ci1.aol.com> <87euk0$c93$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <01HW.B4C1346100072D2408A24140@news.pacbell.net> <949867976.281549@the-rowan.albatross.co.nz> <8766v93w66.fsf@deneb.cygnus.argh.org> <38E8C81A.AA62CF4C@HiWAAY.net> <7EA1B852F5D4D8C6.26EEE9181C80F0DF.0161EA2D9C353253@lp.airnews.net> <01HW.B51C1B6E00F41C2D04BB51B0@news.pacbell.net> <38F796B2.A99A206A@ftw.rsc.raytheon.com> <38F7A27A.4F7729FA@raytheon.com> <38F7DA95.A9E1F5@quadruscorp.com> <8d9s0a$62r6@ftp.kvaerner.com> Organization: Quadrus Corporation X-Sender: "Marin D. Condic" (Unverified) X-Server-Date: 15 Apr 2000 15:19:49 GMT Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-04-15T15:19:49+00:00 List-Id: 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 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 -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ q u a d r u s c o r p . c o m Visit my web site at: http://www.mcondic.com/ "I'd trade it all for just a little more" -- Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10] ======================================================================