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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,27c65a5d645381b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: swhalen@netcom.com Subject: Re: When cross-posting, don't annoy the pig Date: 1999/12/24 Message-ID: <83ug5d$lci$1@nntp1.atl.mindspring.net>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 564383263 References: <38600FF9.4B3BE3CA@averstar.com> <1999Dec23.140731.1@eisner> <26x84.28$WC4.6167@news.wenet.net> Organization: ? User-Agent: tin/pre-1.4-19990517 ("Psychonaut") (UNIX) (SunOS/4.1.4 (sun4m)) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-12-24T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: I'd vote for a combination of the two: Post the mini-FAQ you refer to and when an opportunity arises, reply with a reference to the mini-FAQ and a snippet of code appropriate to the topic showing how much "better" the solution is in Ada (and reposting the mini-FAQ if it's been a while and might have scrolled off their news server). Of course, I'm somewhat ambivalent about proselytizing Ada too much . To a certain degree, I consider using Ada a competitive advantage: if "they" want to write bug riddled code in those other languages, let them ! Steve Mike Silva wrote: : Larry Kilgallen wrote in message <1999Dec23.140731.1@eisner>... :>In article , "Mike Silva" : writes: :>> I've been thinking about this since it was posted, and I agree that :>> gratuitous (key word!) Ada references are to be avoided. Still, in many :>> language-neutral groups that are quite relevant to Ada there seems to be : an :>> unspoken C/C++ "assumption". I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to :>> post some form of Ada mini-FAQ to these groups, not covering the entire :>> language in detail, but focusing on those areas of the language which are :>> appropriate to the particular newsgroup. :> :>I think a FAQ in that environment comes across as too evangelistic. :>My preference is to wait until someone asks for a sample of code and :>does not indicate that only C (or only Fortran) is acceptable. Then :>giving them the solution in Ada can often get the point across but :>with somewhat of a lower degree of rant. Of course this works best :>when what they are trying to do is a lot easier in Ada. : That's interesting, because I've always thought of FAQs as entirely : non-intrusive, which is why I suggested the possibility. I've never seen : anybody complain about the posting of a FAQ. While I agree that giving : Ada-specific answers to general questions is also legitimate, they *do* : often provoke people (e.g. "Oh, sure, I'm just going to toss out all my C++ : code!" when no mention of the language was originally given -- the unspoken : assumption again), and they can often be "lost" in a non-intuitive or : specialized thread, meaning only a few people might notice them. It'll be : interesting to see if there's a concensus here one way or the other. : Mike -- {===--------------------------------------------------------------===} Steve Whalen swhalen@netcom.com {===--------------------------------------------------------------===}