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: 103376,1116ece181be1aea X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-09-09 10:03:07 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!cyclone.bc.net!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!nf3.bellglobal.com!nf1.bellglobal.com!nf2.bellglobal.com!news20.bellglobal.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is the Writing on the Wall for Ada? References: <3F5CD566.3040304@crs4.it> In-Reply-To: <3F5CD566.3040304@crs4.it> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-ID: <3vn7b.2184$fC5.573094@news20.bellglobal.com> Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2003 12:48:10 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 198.96.223.163 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sympatico.ca X-Trace: news20.bellglobal.com 1063126079 198.96.223.163 (Tue, 09 Sep 2003 12:47:59 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 09 Sep 2003 12:47:59 EDT Organization: Bell Sympatico Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:42323 Date: 2003-09-09T12:48:10-04:00 List-Id: Jacob Sparre Andersen wrote: > Warren W. Gay VE3WWG wrote: > > [ begin quote from article ] > >> Among the key motivations for the military's interest in Java is a drive >> to transition away from Ada. > [ end quote from article ] > > What matters to me is: > > 1) that those I pay tax to don't waste money (on bad software) > > 2) that there are sufficient resources to continue the development and > improvement of Ada compilers and libraries > > Since I don't pay tax to the USA, I don't care much about 1) in this > specific case. You and I probably do in an indirect sense: some of the profits in products we buy from the US, no doubt go towards applicable taxation. > I don't know where the Ada compiler industry gets its revenues from. If > it is mostly from US DoD and ESA subcontractors, then we may have a > serious problem with respect to 2). I am sorry to say that the > available product ranges and prices in the Ada compiler market mean that > I probably (unwillingly and indirectly) have poured more money into > unused MS-Windows licenses than into Ada compilers and support > contracts. But if all those who currently pay for all the nice Ada > compilers we can get stop paying, we have to find some other model to > maintain the availability of the tools we want. What worries me is the perceived trend of all Ada vendors in their hedging of their bets into other services and products. What could happen, is that Ada ends up dropping off of the supported list at some point, due to general lack of demand. > Until now I have been rather lazy, when it comes to active work on GNAT > and general purpose Ada libraries (I am much too much better at > complaining). But I think there are enough knowledgable people, who can > and are willing to put in a bit of effort to continue to have access to > good Ada tools. > >> So: Is the writing on the wall for Ada? > > I don't think so. > > Jacob I hope you're right. Certainly, Ada code will be around for a long time, but I get concerned when/if new development stops. -- Warren W. Gay VE3WWG http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg