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: 103376,8623fab5750cd6aa X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public Path: controlnews3.google.com!news1.google.com!news.glorb.com!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!atl-c02.usenetserver.com!c03.atl99!c01.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!d9c68f36!not-for-mail Message-ID: <40BB28DF.1000902@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: Improving Ada's image - Was: 7E7 Flight Controls Electronics References: <40b9c99e$0$268$edfadb0f@dread16.news.tele.dk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 12:45:53 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.165.1.137 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net 1086007553 209.165.1.137 (Mon, 31 May 2004 05:45:53 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 31 May 2004 05:45:53 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: controlnews3.google.com comp.lang.ada:950 Date: 2004-05-31T12:45:53+00:00 List-Id: I basically agree with your analysis. I'd suggest that the way to get executive level attention is by having companies that successfully build things with a large software component developed in Ada be successful in selling their wares. A company that makes some device or software product that gets it out the door faster/better/cheaper and does it in Ada is going to get attention. Trying to persuade mid-level managers in existing companies that they should adopt Ada when the rest of the world is using C++ or Java is going to be an uphill, losing battle. Forget the frontal assault and do an end-run around them. Start a company that markets something built in Ada and *prove* it is better because you're getting stinking rich doing it. Or is Ada not that much better? MDC Per Dalgas Jakobsen wrote: > > The good old story: "You don't get fired for choosing IBM". > The good old story on a new bottle: "You don't get fired for choosing > Microsoft". > The good old story on a another new bottle: "You don't get fired for > choosing C/C++". > > One way to make Ada come through, is to make it visible to them. Not just to > those at the "safety-critical" segment, but to the entire software segment. > A couple of years ago I suggested changing from C/C++ to Ada on a company > strategy meeting. The suggestion was met with comments like: "No real > company is using Ada for anything", "Ada is a heavy/slow and expensive > language", "Only projects with a *lot* of money can do that", "We are not > building rockets or aeroplanes, we are just building ...". > > Even though you can counter-argue most of their claims, they still have it > in their stomach and won't make the leap. > > Instead of advertising for Ada in software magazines, web-sites, etc. I > believe that Ada needs to get an "image-lift" at executive level. Imagine if > we could get to the point when project managers are suggesting C/C++ and the > executive asks: "Why not use Ada?" :-p > > It doesn't take many arguments to convince most serious programmers of the > advantages in Ada (even though there *are* religious extremists around, that > believe void-pointers and goto-statements are the only true way) - But it > really doesn't matter if the project managers doesn't have the courage to > even suggest it, because of the opinion of the executives. > > Executives will like to hear: > *) that the reusability factor of Ada is magnitudes higher than for C/C++. > *) that Ada is much better suited than C/C++ for larger projects with > several (potential distanced) developers. And by larger, I mean almost any > project with a project manager. > *) that Ada projects results in fewer bugs at the customer. > I'll bet that this news-group can come up with a dozen or more easy-to-prove > arguments... > > But another important thing to nail into their heads are: It does *not* have > to be expensive to choose Ada. Most visible projects are safety-critical > once, with budgets in the "heavy league". > We need to establish a common knowledge, that Ada is as cheap as choosing > C/C++ (buying toolchains), and that even small projects will have a higher > probability to complete on time with fewer bugs. > The cost of sending people on Ada courses will be insignificant in anything > but the narrowest view. > > > But how can we get the attention of the executives? > Let the brainstorm start ;-) > > Per > > -- ====================================================================== 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 ======================================================================