Re: Dr Dobbs dismisses Ada

[gregg <greggNOSPAMarbage@NOSPAMfree.WANTEDfr>]

Stephen Leake wrote:
> In the May 2005 issue of Dr Dobbs magazine, the "embedded space"
> column by Ed Nisley has a brutal dismissal of Ada:
> 
>     the entire cadre of Ada programmers is reaching retirement age
>     with no replacements on tap.

He dismisses C/C++ as well.
Only to promote Java.
(it's a constant trend in Dr Dobb's lately, which I regret).


Argh, I think I'd be troubled to know that the plane I'm taking is 
running Java in some way -- considering the amount of Java code I've had 
to do.

Then again, Java is over-publicised. Not only for web applications, but 
also for such critical and passion-heaving missions as space probes for 
NASA.
I gather Ada (and especially 2006) really does need publicity too.
It is no time to keep being the one discreet, invisible thing making the 
whole architecture stable and performant, in the background.
And let's wipe out that Ariane V failure, too.


Java gains terrain through hype.
When I was doing my BS, my teacher in Object Oriented Programming had a 
moment of doubt because of Sun's erratic position (as this was before 
the Microsoft dollar-settlement), and said "God, what will we be using 
then ? We don't know."
I wish I had known Ada enough, back then, just to propose it.

Now it seems Java is on his way up again (even though Free Software 
proponents are worried with Sun, a free implementation of Java does not 
pose any problem to them).
And this include embedded thingies.


Shouldn't Ada developers be more prone to publicity ?
A sort of proselytism maybe (which I certainly dislike, but might be 
necessary).
An "ada-powered" sticker on projects ? :-)

Trying to gain such territories as PDAs, cellular phones, and 
everyday-devices, while claiming it ?


(my 2 cents of course, I'm hardly a beginner and certainly not a 
decision-maker, not enough power to promote the language in the 
institution I work for...)

But what about universities ? There is not much display and promotion 
for Ada there, either ?
(Not to mention the very few projects in Ada on sourceforge and 
freshmeat, for instance).


> It would help if other Dr Dobbs subscribers wrote in as well.
> 

Where did you write to ?
(Shall we need a petition or something ?)

++