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: 2001-12-12 14:45:21 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsxfer3.itd.umich.edu!jobone!dailyplanet.srl.ford.com!eccws12.dearborn.ford.com!not-for-mail From: John Kern Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Future with Ada Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 16:56:44 -0500 Organization: Visteon Coropration Message-ID: <3C17D29C.F62B82EF@NOSPAM.visteon.com> References: <3wdH7.20135$xS6.32614@www.newsranger.com> <9tqete0gqc@drn.newsguy.com> <3C0924D6.2B5A3087@adaworks.com> Reply-To: jkern3@NOSPAM.visteon.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 19.51.198.11 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.78 [en]C-c32f404p (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en, en-GB, de, fr, ja, ko, zh Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:17868 Date: 2001-12-12T16:56:44-05:00 List-Id: Does anyone know whether this is a press release for an Ada project or not? http://www.wrs.com/html/x38.html Richard Riehle wrote: > > "ben@NO_SPAM_EMAIL" wrote: > > > That is funny. It is almost impossible to find any Ada wanted ads these days. > > Actually there are more openings for almost any other language than for Ada. > > > > Can you point to ONE commerical Ada opening right now that requires no > > active security clearance in the US? I bet you there is none. > > Over and over, we encounter companies who, after deciding to use Ada for > its technological advantages, cannot hire qualified Ada programmers. Our > most recent experience was a company in Silicon Valley. They were excited > about using Ada, asked us to train some of the people, and then tried to hire > more programmers to do Ada. They found it nearly impossible to find > people with experience in their domain, sufficient mathematics, and lots > of experience in Ada. Sadly, they finally decided to use C++ because it > was so much easier to find programmers. > > We encounter this same problem with DoD contractors. One reason I am given > by major DoD software developers, for their choice of C++ is availability > of personnel. Often they admit the superiority of Ada but justify their choice > of C++ or Java on the basis of the difficulty of hiring Ada programmers. > > In those same organizations, many programmers don't want to program in Ada > because they see few commercial opportunities for that skill. These programmers > don't care whether Ada is a better language. They care about the future of their > career. The companies don't care whether Ada is superior to C++. They > often admit it is. They do care about being able to hire people who want to > program in Ada. > > One can dismiss this as a "chicken and egg" problem. However, it is a problem > that needs solving. There are still a few brave non-DoD managers out there who > are > enjoying the benefits of Ada and would choose nothing else. This kind of > enlightenment is not as widespread as we might like. > > If the DoD had not given the impression of abandoning Ada when it did, we might > be a lot further ahead. Yes, I know, abandonment was not the intention of the > letter that abrogated the mandate, but that is how it is widely interpreted by both > > DoD contractors and commercial organizations that might have chosen it. We > need to raise the visibility of Ada in the media, and among our non-Ada colleagues. > > At present, no one is making any effective effort to make Ada visible and attactive > > to the larger software community. Nothing is being done to promote it among the > software managers at DoD contractor sites, not to mention the non-DoD sites. > > Those commercial organizations who have chosen Ada have done so on > the basis of their own wisdom. They benefit from that choice and rarely see the > benefit of proseletyzing their competitors. > > As a technology, I believe Ada is still a better choice for many software domains. > It is going to take something more than better technology to make the difference. A > > long time ago, Ralph Crafts was a powerful spokesman for the industry. He finally > gave up, recognizing that his "voice in the wilderness" was not being as > appreciated > as it should have been. No one has stepped in to take over the work Ralph was > doing. If someone has stepped in, they are not making themselves or Ada visible. > > Richard Riehle