Re: Why don't large companies use Ada?

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <1994Dec1.043246.13829@news.vanderbilt.edu>,
Jeff Gray <jgray@vuse.vanderbilt.edu> wrote:

[snip]

>I have not seen a recent survey of language use (in terms of CS-1 and CS-2) in
>U.S. universities. The last one that I am aware of, however, placed Ada second 
>behind Pascal. Many students are coming out with Ada experience. Why not
>utilize that experience?

The latest Reid Report on CS-1 languages shows Ada in second place,
'way behind Pascal, which is still the champ by far. The Reid Report
data may be a bit misleading, though, because I do not know how
representative it is. Reid's survey consists of listings from schools
who voluntarily report by e-mail. He lists some 400 or so, but there
are several thousand worldwide. 

I can tell you that his Ada data is reaonably complete. There are a few
places he missed, but not too many, as far as I can tell. I know this
because I think I've tracked down most if not all of the Ada-in-Cs1/CS2
institutions. My list is in the next message; note that it shows _only_ 
CS1/CS2 uses of Ada, NOT "Ada courses" in general. BTW - the CS1 number has
increased _fourfold_ in the last three years, the CS2 number has
doubled. These data are pretty verifiable.

In comparing Reid's data, it is very dangerous, and IMHO not intellectually
honest, to look at raw percentages, because whereas his language A
listings might be nearly exhaustive (because language A has champions
working hard to ensure that language A teachers report to him), language
C or P or M or L might be only a sample, and who knows whether that
sample can be extrapolated across all schools? So we have no idea
what the Ada percentages are. I don't care, because "market share"
is a less important criterion for success than a continuing upward
trend, which is what we've got.

Reid posts updates to comp.edu twice a year or so. I'm hesitant to
post it here because I've seen the data misinterpreted too many times.

Later -

Mike Feldman