Soviet Union and Ada are similar

[alexy@belknap.dartmouth.edu (Alexy V. Khrabrov)]

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    From: ichbiah@jdi.tiac.net (Jean D. Ichbiah)
    Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
    Subject: Re: Ada 95 is the name
    Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 17:34:44 GMT
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    In article <3cho0b$k4f@cliffy.lfwc.lockheed.com> l107353@cliffy.lfwc.lockheed.com (Garlington KE) writes:

    >If this is so, shouldn't Ada mean The Latest Ada (at least as of 1995), and
    >Ada 95 and Ada 87 be the preferred form when referring to the current version
    >and the previous version in the same context?

    Now that the Soviet Union has ceased to exist, we have noticed
    a significant decrease in the practice of rewriting history.
    But, well, perhaps it could be tried again.

    Jean D. Ichbiah
--
[climbed the soapbox]

It's a powerful and  metaphoric analogy.  However, the history is
rewritten all the time by all--that's the way the Time works.  I guess
the Soviet Union came to mind because it is a quite recent example of
revelations and discoveries about the past.  There was even a saying,
``Soviet Union is a country with an unpredictable past.''  However,
the most recent example is the D-day's 50th anniversary, when one in
the US could thought the States made the war.  But the fact is, they
came in 1944 to the arena prepared, eventually, by 30,000,000 Soviet
lives.  The total of the US, I remember, is about several hundred
thousand.  The civilian American killed numbered 6 (from a rogue Japanese
balloon with explosive).  Actually, the guys came when all the work was
done.  And used an overkill, nuclear bobming, when the Soviet Army
succeeded in a really helpful invasion, defeting 1,000,000 Kwantun army
and invading the islands.  It's just good to keep in mind, since the
military issues created computers in the WW][ for decyphering needs,
then large-scale military competition with the Soviet Union created the
control systems, which eventually asked for Ada.  The latter I do like,
though the arms race undermined the Soviet Union, and without it it's not
so easy to get Ada money!  Actually, without the Soviet Union, there
would be no Ada.  Namely:

--The Soviet Union largely won the infantry war with Germany, saved
Britain and France and enabled the US to sell weapons to all the allies
and get the money for computers.

--Attracting main German armies (> 100 divisions), the SU enabled the
Brits to finish their 1st computer on which Alan Turing worked.
Instead of bombing all of it, the German main airforces were on the East
front, 4,000 kilometers long, from the Polar Ocean to the Med.

--The US had time, money, and application area to employ computers.
The motivation was ballistics, cryptography, and other areas, where
Germans excelled in the fear of the Soviet Union!

--The lessons of logistics, maintaining a vast armies' conglomerates on
the Eastern front called for the logistics support systems, leading to
the DoD's ones

--Soviet Victory gave Fau-2 and Von Brawn to the allies.  Running away
from the main testbed at Penemunde, taken by the Soviet Army, Von Brawn
surrendered intentionally to the Western allies, who didn't punish him
for his Nazi crimes (caused death of 40,000 Londoners.)  The Cold War
needed rockets, and, my friends, everybodywho heard of using Ada heard
about some embedded systems on this toys.

--The Soviet Union kept the world balance of power, and was the only rival
to the US in the modern warfare.  It stimulated the both countries to
excel in military technology, with civilian benefit.

--The DoD explioted it to get funding from the US taxpayers,
threatening'em with the ``Russian Bear''

--Having got the money, DoD should do something with them, which
couldn't be understood by the congressmen and those alike

--Thus, the computer area emerged

--Thus the Babel emerged there

--Hence Ada was called to existence!

--And the latter thing is great, and better still!

Thus, I believe Ada community actually lost from the loss of the Soviet
Union, not to say about the Ada works stopped in the new republics.  I
think Jean can't be  happy that the country which established
Normandia-Neman airforce squadron, and helped to free France,
disappeared.  The big, well-organized (modular) and united thing is
always better than small fighting components.  The US vs EC is an
example.  The Soviet Union vs CIS is another one.  And Ada is the final
one.

[left the soapbox]

	Alexy V. Khrabrov <khrabrov@cccc.com> 
	``Age Quod Agis'' (Do what you're doing.)