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: 2004-01-30 05:25:19 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!d9c68f36!not-for-mail Message-ID: <401A5B3A.1020201@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: Standard Ada Preprocessor (conclusions) References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 13:25:18 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.2.58 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net 1075469118 209.165.2.58 (Fri, 30 Jan 2004 05:25:18 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2004 05:25:18 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:5092 Date: 2004-01-30T13:25:18+00:00 List-Id: I'm afraid I'd have to agree to some extent. Ada *must* pay attention to what real-world developers *are* doing and why they are doing it and ask "Can I be of some assistance in that area?" It *must* offer more and better to the average developer or the average developer will go somewhere else. Complex, arcane, difficult to understand techniques to get around what might be perceived as "bad" in what developers are already doing doesn't help them much. Offering them a "better" solution that is easy for them to grasp and utilize is something that helps make the sale. A good example is the whole ability of Ada to handle the "make" job right from a single command rather than having to build all sorts of complex, arcane, difficult to understand makefiles. The developer has a *better* answer with Ada than he does with C in that regard. We don't need to blindly mimmic whatever already exists - that would be the "Me Too!" answer. But if we can offer them something that does the same job in a better way - or offer them everything they've already got and *more* - then there's more incentive to use Ada. Ada should take a look at what the people who *don't* use Ada are doing and what it is they need to do their jobs better. If it really offers them more leverage and does it in simple ways that they can understand and utilize, perhaps they'll start gravitating towards the better mousetrap? MDC Warren W. Gay VE3WWG wrote: > > Looking at the larger question of why "Ada is Unpopular?" > then, I would have to conclude from this thread (and the > original) that this attitude is ONE reason > that Ada has not achieved popular support. That is a > shame, IMO, because there has been much effort > expended into bringing software into a newer level of > quality and reliability. Much could be learned from the > lessons of Ada. > -- ====================================================================== 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 ======================================================================