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: 103376,54889de51045a215 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-20 05:40:12 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.he.net!newsfeed1.easynews.com!easynews.com!easynews!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F93D7A5.8020801@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: += in ada References: <1066224357.499523@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1066231159.711433@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <1066311805.222491@master.nyc.kbcfp.com> <3F8F3077.60402@comcast.net> <3F900F35.50203@comcast.net> <3F92B607.809@comcast.net> <3F937806.9080205@comcast.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 12:40:12 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.0.172 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net 1066653612 209.165.0.172 (Mon, 20 Oct 2003 08:40:12 EDT) mcondic@mindspring.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2003 08:40:12 EDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:1196 Date: 2003-10-20T12:40:12+00:00 List-Id: Aside from these legitimate arguments, there is one other: Its really easy to succumb to the temptation to try to please everyone and end up with garbage as a result. I'm sure we could find a steady stream of C++ fans who would say "Ada would be better if only it had a "+=" operator." and "Ada would be better if only it used "{" and "}" instead of "begin" and "end"..." and "Ada would be better if only it used "*" instead of 'Address/access..." All that amounts to saying is "Ada would be better if only it were the language I *really* want to use - C++" We couldn't start changing Ada to look like C++ to win over the C++ fans. It would either become C++ or it would remain Ada with a bizarre hodge-podge syntax that would be neither Ada nor C++. In either case, the C++ fans still wouldn't like Ada because they'd hate its type model or its generics or its tasking model or something else far more profound than its syntax. People have not avoided Ada over its syntax. They've avoided it for much bigger reasons than that. Changing the syntax would only overwork the compiler writers, piss off the existing users and make no new batch of converts as an end result. MDC Robert I. Eachus wrote: > I had about decided to let this topic die a graceful death when Chad R. > Meiners wrote: > >> People that use Ada are people that feel safety and maintenance are >> important characteristics of a programming language. > -- ====================================================================== 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 ======================================================================