Re: The LearnAdaNow.com Contest - Do Something Awesome with Ada

[David Botton <david@botton.com>]

> Great Idea, ADACORE stick some money in! this helps you immensely!

A large part of what I am doing the last 8 months is to corral us in to a cohesive independent community that is looking inward for strength. If we enjoy Ada programming, want to attract new people to use Ada, create new Ada jobs, and want to see Ada use in the long term future, it requires us to build an environment that is inviting and not condescending to new comers and their ideas, one that looks fresh and clean, inviting and supportive.

Being part of a community is not about money, it doesn't take much to make things work. It takes small contributions mostly of time and sometimes a small bit of money from all and respecting those contributions and efforts as all having value.

Is a supportive vibrant growing innovative Ada community in the interest of a corporate interest that depends not on innovation and creativity but fear of failure (both for their customers and themselves) one that would support such endeavors? It could be, but that requires humbling, communication and a benevolence focus.

Such a surprising change would be nice if it happened the capacity for it is there, the people involved are all good people, but suffer from a lack of ability to accept outside perspectives (i.e. the need to humble). Given the only way to reach such a corporate interest is direct corporate contacts that are often ignored (i.e. the need to communicate), it would be better for us to concentrate on each other and future potentials that could be cultivated with or with out them (i.e. what benevolence will bring).

So now that we have a community compiler, GetAdaNow.com, and once done with creating a nice collection of "Awesome things you can do with Ada" for LearAdaNow.com, I (and I hope others) will be on to pushing that info beyond the walls of the small Ada community. We can then push step 3, already slowly in progress of, JoinAdaNow.com for a drive for membership to an informal open Ada group (hopefully with or even under the existing groups).

David Botton