Re: Desirability of C++

["Tarjei T. Jensen" <tarjei.jensen@kvaerner.com>]

Marin D. Condic
>These things may be possible for companies that are on the scale of
>General Motors or Lockheed Martin, but may well be out of reach for most
>moderate sized companies.

I'm not entirely sure. If I were sure that Ada gave me a competitive advantage
it would be worth spending some money to make sure potential employees knew
about me. E.g. a stand at a job faire or ask to speak to computer science
students about something. I would also consider a reward for employees which
wrote technical articles which mentioned the company, its expertise and kept
Ada visible.

Such an article should be excellent for promoting the company. 1. Our people
got an article on print in <magazine name> which is well regarded in our
profession. 2. Ada is our technical edge which enables us to deliver product
sooner and with more certainty than we would otherwise manage.

>And remember, a copmany's reason for existence
>is *not* to promote some specific technology, but to *make money*.

If using Ada makes enables me to get contracts which I would not otherwise get,
then it is a competitive advantage that I would be willing to spend some money
to maintain.

>This is an interesting assumption. I hate to pick on someone's optimism,
>but in the world of business, you can't let such interesting assumptions
>go unchallenged. Exactly how much do you propose to spend? And exactly
>how much do you anticipate getting back on this investment over how many
>years?

I would expect to spend somewhere between 5 and 10 000 dollars a year. If I
could get projects that enabled me to make money I would spend more.

>What discount rate are you going to apply? What if the world
>changes dramatically before I see these returns?

No risk, no profit.

>The question is never that simple. Someone has to actually put down some
>numbers and commit to a course of action based on those numbers. The
>"philosophical" approach is only useful for generating potential ideas
>or looking for fundamental flaws. Sooner or later you have to get down
>to math and we Ada advocates *must* make a solid business case for it if
>we expect to sell it.

Usually on project decisions are taken based on money spent, and one forget to
take into account manhours. People will spend hours and days telling you how
little money they have while the manhours pour out.

The business case is that a working relationship with a
collage/university/lecturer allows you to get things done that may not be
essential, but will do you good. You get to know potential employees and have
excellent possibility to recruit. Students have a lot more time to spend on a
project than you can. And they can explore more possibilities.

E.g. if you want an export/import facility for database/spreadsheet files to
your applications, but don't consider it essential and you really want
something in Ada which you can modify. Perhaps you want to do it by loading
export filters dynamically. Then that may be an excellent project for a bunch
of students. You have to spend some time on it, it is a gamble, but there might
be a nice payoff in the end. Later you can have more projects when you need a
specific filter.

What do the students get out of this? If you do your bit they get to know how
to run a project and how real world projects work. They get real world feedback
on their work. And if they do a decent job it will look good on their CV.
Perhaps they will get a job as well.

Greetings,