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=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,4bd960829a3eda10,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-09-12 13:02:26 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!xlink.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!zombie.ncsc.mil!paladin.american.edu!auvm!FNOC.NAVY.MIL!mhagerty Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Message-ID: <9408127793.AA779382777@smtpgw.fnoc.navy.mil> Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 08:12:57 PDT Sender: Ada programming language From: Michael Hagerty Subject: Re: Ada9X Features Comments: To: Ada programming language Date: 1994-09-12T08:12:57-07:00 List-Id: On Sun, 11 Sep 1994, Michael Feldman wrote: MF> This discussion of "creeping featurism" in Ada 9X points up just > how difficult a consensus process is. Everyone says "this language > is getting too big; we don't need all this junk; leave _my_ > favorite stuff in, please." Much, much, much horse trading goes on in building a consensus on a standards committee. I recall one instance on the Pascal committee where, in order to get the set extensions I so dearly wanted, I went along with adding complex numbers... Even then, set complement was whacked way down when the rest of the committee guessed what was required in generating the complement of the null set! Shucks... Almost every language (he says qualifiedly) has parts that are unused in common applications. The goal is to build something like the mid-scale swiss army knife: all of the things you need daily, some of what you may need occasionally, but still small enough to carry in your pocket, so that you will have it when you need it . I think of PL/I as the mega-swiss army knife; you know, the one in the case that is so big that you could not imagine anyone schlepping that puppy around... Ada, in its current implementations, is more like a ShopMate power tool. Even Lincoln's comment about "pleasing all of the people" in mind, there is the issue of timeliness and "hitting the market window". I recognize that standard Pascal's position in the market was harmed by not having an extended language standard at the time the C weenies were running amok. Promises of a C standard right around the corner were believed only by those who had never worked on a standard, but it did have the effect of spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt). Regards, Mikey