Re: AdaMax? (was: ada to C++ translation)

[dennison@telepath.com (Ted Dennison)]

"Marin David Condic" <dont.bother.mcondic.auntie.spam@[acm.org> wrote in message news:<a63dgj$sn3$1@nh.pace.co.uk>...
> O.K. but to stretch the analogy a little further. Look at regular, vs HDTV.
> A content developer might like HDTV, but if the camera equipment, etc., is
> too expensive (development environments) or the tools aren't available to

No, that's a different analogy altogether. HDTV's problem isn't lack
of openness, its just the normal ramp-up problem for any new
technology. The end of this story has yet to be written. That fact
alone makes attempts to draw analogies w/ programming languages
unsatisfactory, as no real conclusion can be reached.

I'd say its still wrong from one perspective though. Programming
languages don't really resemble media formats much at all. If I have a
player for one media format, it generally won't handle a competing
format. Either way, for that player to be worthwhile for the
purchaser, people have to develop content that works with it. If "The
Lord of the Rings" is only release using another format, your'e hosed.

Languages don't work that way at all. If I've got a C compiler, but
Fred chooses to use Tea (fictional language) to produce his programs,
that really doesn't hurt me at all. As far as the users are concerned,
they really can't even tell the difference.

For that reason, I don't believe formats should *ever* be used as
analogies with computer languages. They just aren't analgous.

-- 
T.E.D.
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