Re: Another measure of Ada's rejection by corporate America

[dewar@cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

The comparison Ada : OS/2 : Porsche
with           C : DOS/Windows : Volkswagon

is actually one that is pretty favorable to Ada.

Yes, DOS/Windows is more popular than OS/2, but millions of people are
using OS/2 to solve problems that would either be impossible or unsatisfactory
if Windows were used to address them.

Similarly, a substantial number of drivers are very happy to drive their
Porshe's and would not consider driving or racing Volkswagen's in their place.

Sure, C is much more pupular than Ada, and lilkely to remain so for the
forseeable future, no one disagrees with that. But popularity is only
one measure (after all judged this way, C is probably a failure compared
to the miserable language used to program macros in Lotus 1-2-3, and COBOL
may still have more programmers trudging around than C). 

The important thing is that, as in the OS/2 and Porshe cases, there will be
cases in which the advantages of Ada play a critical part. The success of
Ada will depend on two things:

   1. Developing technology that can realize the potential of Ada 95

   2. Working hard to identify and exploit those cases in which Ada can
	present a substantial advantage.