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,a1ce307c10055549 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-12-08 12:12:21 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.uchicago.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn14feed!wn12feed!wn11feed!worldnet.att.net!207.217.77.102!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!harp.news.atl.earthlink.net!not-for-mail From: Richard Riehle Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: IBM Acquires Rational Ada Date: Sun, 08 Dec 2002 12:20:13 -0800 Organization: AdaWorks Software Engineering Message-ID: <3DF3A97D.21AFD664@adaworks.com> References: Reply-To: richard@adaworks.com NNTP-Posting-Host: 3f.bb.a1.91 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Server-Date: 8 Dec 2002 20:12:20 GMT X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:31559 Date: 2002-12-08T20:12:20+00:00 List-Id: Steven Deller wrote: > Richard, > I'd bet that when the smoke clears, Rational Ada will live on pretty > much as now. It is possible that IBM will actually add support for it. Thanks. I realize you are in a better position to offer an opinion about this because of your close association with Rational for many years. > It can't go away -- too many large users of Rational Ada (who are also > IBM customers) will bring pressure to keep support of the product. Good point. Another poster, Steve_H, suggests that GNAT is the last word in Ada compiler technology. Of course that is dead wrong. In the case of Rational, my customers find the Rational Ada run-time to be an important feature. Some believe, after running their own benchmarks, that Rational Ada is better for high-performance embedded applications. This takes nothing away from GNAT. Different products meet different needs. GNAT's contribution is enormous and necessary. There is not only room for more than one Ada compiler product in the marketplace, there is a need for more than one. Each of the compiler publishers has a unique contribution. I often direct my clients to explore the options from ICC, DDC-I, Aonix, and Green Hills, along with the better known options such as Rational and GNAT. I agree with you that IBM could benefit the visibility of Ada with its own clients -- but only if the widespread misconceptions about the language can be reversed. In particular, Dr. Norm Cohen could make a huge difference within IBM. He is probably the most visible, and to those of outside IBM, the most knowledgeable person with the IBM corporate structure when it comes to Ada.