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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,92c39a3be0a7f17d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-12-07 08:56:02 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!news.mindspring.net!not-for-mail From: Richard Riehle Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Future with Ada Date: Fri, 07 Dec 2001 08:54:41 -0800 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3C10F451.16977CBA@adaworks.com> References: <3wdH7.20135$xS6.32614@www.newsranger.com> <9tqete0gqc@drn.newsguy.com> <3C0924D6.2B5A3087@adaworks.com> Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 9e.fc.c5.e3 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 7 Dec 2001 16:55:57 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:17583 Date: 2001-12-07T16:55:57+00:00 List-Id: Michal Nowak wrote: > Maybe some program like "Ada goes to university" or something, maybe try > this way...There are students, who are likely to learn something new, > but they are not aware about Ada. The current problem is that there is no money for any programs to promote Ada. There are no companies with "deep pockets" in the world of Ada; there is no longer any DoD money to support it; and there is no research agency interested in helping. The Ada community is so small that textbook publishers have abandoned interest in publishing new books about Ada. Periodicals devoted to software development have little interest in publishing articles related to Ada. Conferences summarily reject any proposal for a tutorial or paper that promotes Ada. Much of this is due to the misinterpretation of the memo from Assistant Secretary of Defense Emmett Paige. Throughout the DoD there is a widespread assumption that closing of the AJPO means that the DoD no longer wants people programming in Ada. The assumption is false, but there is no forum for countering it. Among DoD contractors, there is the belief that the DoD has abandoned Ada totally. That was never the intent of Mr. Paige's memo, but many have drawn that conclusion. On the positive side, those who continue to choose Ada do so because they believe in its virtues. Ultimately, this may be good for the language because it is, in nearly every respect, a better choice for DoD software than any other language currently available. We in the Ada community need to continue our efforts to keep the language visible outside of our community. This means continuing to submit papers to non-Ada conferences, proposing articles about software solutions that used Ada to publications, and building software solutions in Ada whenever we can. For those with the credentials and ability, you could propose teaching an evening class in Ada at your local community college. At first your enrollment will be low, but if you make it interesting, it will grow. My classes are getting larger because I am now including options for programming in Windows (JEWL, GtkAda, and CLAW) so students can build more interesting solutions. "Word of mouth" advertising, in this case, informs prospective students that Ada can be fun and worthwhile. Ada can have a future, will have a future, if each of us is able to leverage our talents to make that future happen. What are the alternatives? There are some good ones. Eiffel comes to mind. But Eiffel is not ready for safety-critical software. C++ is its own virus. Java is OK for small, non-safety-critical applications where efficiency is no concern. C# has some interesting properties, but it still includes many of the flaws of C. At present, Ada is easier to use, more readable, and more portable than any of the alternatives. We can make the future for Ada happen. It will not happen by itself. There is little promotional effort by commercial Ada companies beyond their own immediate self-interest for survival. The ARA is doing almost nothing, or it would seem so, since we never see anything from them. SigAda still puts up a booth at a few conferences, but that is not enough. As I mentioned earlier, the only Ada compiler publisher who sends out a newsletter seems to be DDC-I. The only person who currently publishes articles about Ada outside the Ada community is Dr. Tokar. I suppose I need to start publishing again. I have a few ideas, and will give it a shot. But we need more of our community to be making Ada interesting to the rest of the world. Perhaps there is someone with leadership skills who will be able to develop a coherent strategy for promoting Ada, correcting the misconceptions about it, and reversing the current decline in new projects. Several people have tried, but implementing the strategy will require funding as well as leadership. Where will the funding come from? Where will the leadership come from? Richard Riehle