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: 103376,38159b1b5557a2e7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-01-22 05:11:57 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!d9c68f36!not-for-mail Message-ID: <400FCC19.6080607@noplace.com> From: Marin David Condic User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: why ada is so unpopular ? References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 13:11:56 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 165.247.68.244 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net 1074777116 165.247.68.244 (Thu, 22 Jan 2004 05:11:56 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 05:11:56 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:4639 Date: 2004-01-22T13:11:56+00:00 List-Id: Its not a totally illigitimate concern. Programmers come and go. Its expensive and risky to use *anything* outside of the mainstream. Hardware is a good example. Would you rather support a current version of an IBM PC or an old DEC Alpha/VMS system? The old system is *really* costly to maintain because nobody is mass producing parts for it and not as many programmers know how to use it, etc. All that adds cost to a project. The technical superiority of an Alpha over a PC is irrelevant. You'd be building your system on top of an antique and the first breakdown you have is going to kill you. As for "disposable" programmers - would you be willing to sign a long-term contract promising never to leave the company you are at? Probably not. Hence a manager needs to consider the possibility that you might quit and what does he do in that case? He would have to hire and train someone else - costly and time consuming. So using a language that is widely known and platforms that are widely used, he minimizes risks and costs. That's what managers are *supposed* to do. Rather than complain about "stupid management" we ought to be helping them solve their problems. If Ada had much more capability and widespread use, then the manager has substantially less risk in going that route. Give the poor guy something he can *trust* will be around, supported, low cost and high leverage and you may discover he starts making decisions more to your liking. MDC chris wrote: > > If they knew, would they care? In the desktop, I don't think so. > Ludovic is right in the disposability of programmers. Especially today. > -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jsf.mil/NSFrames.htm Send Replies To: m o d c @ a m o g c n i c . r "Face it ladies, its not the dress that makes you look fat. Its the FAT that makes you look fat." -- Al Bundy ======================================================================