Re: Ada student homework ?

[Nicolas Brunot <n.brunot@cadwin.com>]

Robert Dewar wrote :

> So, since that example confused you, let's take a modern
> example, and compare the BMW with a Ford Pinto. I choose
> the latter example deliberately, since it was indeed
> seriously unreliable, and the manufacturer knew it, but
> did not care. But it was cheap!

Success often comes from reliable AND cheap ...
Not so long ago a 3D graphic card costed more than 10 000 US$
Now you have better ones for less than 50 US$
That was a big step forward in our market ...

> Cost is a legitimate concern -- sometimes -- but not always.
> Ask people if they would accept less reliable software in
> a Boeing 777 in return for a $3 discount on their ticket ...

There are others things in software develoment than making Boeing
softwares ... I'm not sure you noticed this fact ...
Our market, and a lot of markets have nothing to do with the kind of
software you are talking about.

> Ah, there you are very wrong. I am very strongly opposed
> to the notion of individual fame and pride when it comes
> to software. There is a reason why you don't find any
> authors names anywhere in the GNAT code :-)

Well may be some Gnat (public version) users would like sometimes to
hear somebody else than you.
Well, I know they didn't pay for that, but may be some would be actually
ready to pay just not to hear you :-)
That's a joke, don't take it for real please ... :-) , my concern is Ada
and there is nothing personal about that ....

> Well cheap and reliable are opposing goals at some level, you
> have to decide where you want to be on the spectrum.

That a huge mistake, especially in computers and software world, cheap
and reliable are not opposing goals
Just look at processors and graphic cards market ....

> Not all software runs on Windows -- perhaps that fact has
> escaped you :-)

I know that, but  have you ever try to enumerate the ones that run ONLY
on Windows ? :-)
Talking about Boeing, why do you think that CATIA was ported on WinNT ?
Try also to enumerate how many non Windows existing softwares are ported
to Windows, and how many existing windows softwares are ported to others
OS.

> > "You stupid should know that if you are not satisfied, it's
> Microsoft
> > fault, not mine .."
>
> Could this be auto-biographical? :-)

Actually we met that attitude quite often ... in others companies, ...
like ACT
Well this is a joke again ...

> Yes, well it is always instructive when Windows fans tell
> us that you have to treat it very gently to avoid blowing
> it up. That's certainly what we find (indeed even NT and
> Win2K are very delicate, we only manage to get semi-reliable
> GNAT builds by avoiding running anything else at the same
> time).

That's indeed the problem ... Fortunetaly a lot of software companies
manage to build reliable software on NT
Of course you find very bad ones, may be just because you can find more
software for NT than for any other OS
And of course it's much easier to find poor software on that OS

> Well I don't know what you are talking about here, since you
> are not one of our customers ...

We have been ...

> Sorry, the random non-english here has defeated my attempts
> to understand what you mean here.

Indeed, I often noticed than 80% of the english spoken all over the
world is indeed a very bad english (even worse than mine)
But surprisingly, only people whose english is the native language
cannot understand it, while all others can :-)
I actually saw english discussions where the English or American guy
here was the one who understood nothing

> Well of course users are not looking for antique cars, sorry
> I confused you by setting an example in the past. But updated
> to the present, yes, relatively few users are looking for
> BMW's, and far more users are looking for Fords, but do you
> *really* think that is a legitimate argument that BMW should
> start making commodity cars -- I don't think so!

Tell him about Rover ....

> You may be in a software industry where your success (assuming
> you are in fact successful)

Thanks, we are doing well.

> depends on generating cheap commodity Windows software.

Our applications are mostly professional ones and not exactly cheap ...
which doesn't mean that cost is not a concern

> That's fine, but it is not the main niche for Ada at the moment.

Unfortunately, there are not a lot of niches for Ada since so few
programmers use it.

> To me it seems that Ada is
> being quite successful in the area where it can most likely
> play a role -- namely large high reliability systems. Could
> it be even more successful there, sure ...

If Ada stick to that kind of software, the question is how long will it
last ?

> But all I am saying in my message is that if you sole criterion
> for success is mass market penetration in the Windows context,
> then I think you will be disappointed that Ada will not succeed
> here, but I won't be any more disappointed by that than the
> CEO of BMW is disappointed in seeing that FOrd sells more cars

100 % of car companies are concentrating by now, BMW is no exception.
They failed with Rover and they are quite disappointed with that