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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1116ece181be1aea X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-02 05:24:26 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!sjc70.webusenet.com!news.webusenet.com!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F7C18EC.3000904@noplace.com> From: Marin David Condic User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is the Writing on the Wall for Ada? References: <1064527575.648809@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <3F739C1D.4030907@attbi.com> <3F78E850.8010401@comcast.net> <3F797748.3000203@noplace.com> <3F7AC1B4.304@noplace.com> <3F7B0FE2.6010906@comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 12:24:26 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.4.106 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net 1065097466 209.165.4.106 (Thu, 02 Oct 2003 05:24:26 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 02 Oct 2003 05:24:26 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:107 Date: 2003-10-02T12:24:26+00:00 List-Id: I doubt that this is a significant factor in popularity - or lack thereof. After all, Ada'a type String is really no different than that of C. C++ has inherited C's concept of string and essentially come up with their own "Unbounded_String" with a class. The two are no more related than Ada's String and Unbounded_String. Language popularity is far less concerned with this or that specific syntax feature and far more concerned with "big issues". Fortran got enormously popular because it was all there was to use besides assembler. Cobol got popular because businessmen were not mathematicians and couldn't understand Fortran as readily as something that spoke more in "plain English". (Their needs were dramatically different too, so they got "leverage" out of what Cobol provided.) C got popular because there was this really cheap OS available called Unix that fit on small computers and it was programmed in C and came with a freebie C compiler. C++ became popular because it provided a means of using Object Oriented Programming while still being compatible with all that old C code the Unix hackers had lying around. Java got popular because it provided a means of building apps that could run across the Internet on PCs or Workstations running Windows or Unix or lots of other things. (Portable GUI and big library didn't hurt either.) So what does Ada offer that will address some crying need out there in ProgrammerLand? I'd bet good money it won't be "We changed String and Unbounded_String to be the same thing..." I'd think it would have far more of a chance to gain in popularity if the amount of developmental leverage it provided were to increase - beyond what you get with C, C++, Java, etc. It wouldn't hurt if Ada could identify some market segment that is emerging and give that segment far more leverage than any other language. Tinkering with the syntax and semantics won't do it. MDC Alexander Kopilovitch wrote: > > [From all my experience in (non-corporate) application programming I must say > that while this seemingly tiny and unimportant point remains unresolved, Ada > never will be more popular among programmers than she is now. And if this point > will be resolved with some satifactory way then Ada's popularity will increase > (well, certainly not by magnitude, but quite noticeably) almost immediately. > Well, I'm not sure that it is a good goal to make Ada more popular; therefore > I can admit that preserving status quo here may be actually a proper decision.] > -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jsf.mil/NSFrames.htm Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "All reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for." --Logan Pearsall Smith ======================================================================