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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,47c31ee2e50a590c X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: dweller@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM (David Weller) Subject: Re: Ada saved by gnat (was Re: Where's Aetech?) Date: 1995/04/19 Message-ID: <3n43eu$d99@Starbase.NeoSoft.COM>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 101283257 references: <3lv3et$dcb@news1.delphi.com> <3mjccv$gts@news.znet.com> organization: NeoSoft Internet Services +1 713 968 5800 newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1995-04-19T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <3mjccv$gts@news.znet.com>, Jim Dorman wrote: > >Well, What do you think???? I think theere is a lot of ttruth to it. >... >multiple vendors, including some of my own, but I have never seen >positive comments about commercial Ada products that did have a large >dose of criticism included. Obviously, everything could be improved! >... > If you don't like it, tell me > If you do like it, tell the world > Jim, I'm going to have to disagree with you here. First, I think that you lengthy post is laced with the same ignorance we see from other "real-world" businessmen, namely that a "free" compiler obviously isn't worth it's salt, and is unfairly taking business away from the commercial markets. There is an enormously thriving business with the gcc compiler (yes, even being used in some of those "life critical" apps, etc.), _because_ it is a good compiler. How many businesses went under because of gcc? (None that I recall) How damaged is the C/C++ compiler market because of gcc? I haven't noticed any problems. GNAT, thank God, has raised the standard of quality for Ada compilers. I'm not saying GNAT is _better_ than any compiler on the market today, but that we have some "breathing room". As for complaints...well, I DEFINITELY see more complaints about GNAT on here than any other compiler. And as for the "If the compiler is broken, only tell me, but if it works great, we'd like you to be a free spokesperson for our company", I'll pass. If I like a product, I'll say it, if I don't like a product, and it's worth mentioning on comp.lang.ada, I'll mention that too. If you think commercial Ada products take a blistering here, I'm telling you right now this is child's play compared to some of the stuff flying on comp.lang.c++. Public criticism (or praise) should not be silenced. If it's an unfair critique, kindly correct the poster. For instance, it's quite possible I misinterpreted some of your comments -- it was a lengthy post and I might have missed some context. If that's the case, publicly correct me (and if I have, let me apologize right now. We are both in the _business_ of promoting Ada, so my intent isn't to drastically piss you off :-) Finally, let me say that I have watched the presence of GNAT dramatically increase exploration of Ada within the last year. I can't begin to tell you the _thousands_ of "fingers" I've had over the last year (hmm, I guess I just did :-). Many of those people have picked up GNAT and were able to explore Ada without the slightest financial committment. And, yes, they knew they were getting what they were paying for :-) Also, GNAT has given me leverage personally to address the issue of compiler cost overall. I am currently faced with a bill exceeding $200K from one of the "major" compiler vendors. Because a computer company has committed to the GNAT compiler, I'm able to use that as leverage to reduce the overall unit price of my current vendor. Will that put them out of business? Definitely not. Is this an example of how a "free" government-funded compiler is hurting the Ada business? It depends on how you look at it. I don't think so. One of the amazing things GNAT has done is made Ada "just another programming language". That is totally counter to how we positioned Ada in the 80's. Frankly, I like what GNAT is doing to the business. Yes, you as an Ada business will have to either adapt or leave. I don't see anything wrong with that, I already know of two "non-Ada" companies that are seriously considering _entering_ the market now because of what GNAT has done. I continue to see GNAT as a postive force in our community. -- Frustrated with C, C++, Pascal, Fortran? Ada95 _might_ be for you! For all sorts of interesting Ada95 tidbits, run the command: "finger dweller@starbase.neosoft.com | more" (or e-mail with "finger" as subj.) if u cn rd ths, u r gd enuf to chg to Ada :-)