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: 103376,88ed72d98e6b3457 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-11 07:07:07 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!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: <3F880E88.4070605@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: Standard Library Interest? References: <3F7F760E.2020901@comcast.net> <3F8035B0.7080902@noplace.com> <3F816A35.4030108@noplace.com> <3F81FBEC.9010103@noplace.com> <6Ingb.30667$541.13861@nwrdny02.gnilink.net> <3F82B4A4.5060301@noplace.com> <3F82F527.3020101@noplace.com> <3F836447.1000800@noplace.com> <8746564.sTh3EHsOBI@linux1.krischik.com> <3F8637C8.3020201@noplace.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 14:07:06 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.2.136 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net 1065881226 209.165.2.136 (Sat, 11 Oct 2003 10:07:06 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2003 10:07:06 EDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:663 Date: 2003-10-11T14:07:06+00:00 List-Id: Stephen Leake wrote: > > That's not true, by any sense of the word. "critical mass" means > "enough to sustain itself". ACT and other vendors are making a > profit, and expect to do so for the forseeable future; that meets the > definition of "critical mass". > Critical mass to keep the language alive, or Critical Mass to make the language a dominant force in the programming arena? Yeah, there's probably enough mass out there to keep some compiler vendors alive for a long stretch of years. But that was true of Jovial as well. If you want to discuss some "serious market share" - like, oh, say 30% of "general programming"? - That would be a "Critical Mass" big enough to make sure that Ada had a long-term expanding future in the general world of programming rather than a nice comfortable "retirement fund" of existing programs in the DoD and some other areas where it still hangs on. > > Right. A "critical mass" of users of the library is essential; that > means people find it useful, and will do word-of-mouth advertising. > Yeah, but I'd say we're a little far away from worrying about that just yet. Figure out how to build a *good* library that has general acceptance by the vendors and can react quickly to market demands. Do some market research to find out what end-users really want and need in a library. Get that far, and "Critical Mass" might just take care of itself. Build a better mousetrap.... As for word-of-mouth advertising? That works sometimes, but it sure wouldn't hurt at all to have an active campaign to get it noticed and tried. How to do that is TBD - especially with a limited budget. > > > Note that ACT is doing this "library" thing already; that's what all > the Gnat.* packages are. > I made note of that in my article in Ada Letters. You can read it and find out what sort of issues there are with that. I don't object to the Gnat.Packages, but that's only good for Gnat.Users. What about Aonix, RR, DDC-I, Rational, et alia? Other vendors won't likely adopt something from Gnat - at least not unless something is done to make it more of a "Group Project" where everyone has some ownership. MDC -- ====================================================================== 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 ======================================================================