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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,c8086456b887be55 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-04-24 13:52:50 PST Path: newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!unlnews.unl.edu!newsfeed.ksu.edu!nntp.ksu.edu!news.okstate.edu!dvdeug From: dvdeug@x8b4e53cd.dhcp.okstate.edu (David Starner) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: License to Steal Date: 24 Apr 2001 08:03:49 GMT Organization: Oklahoma State University Message-ID: <9c3c15$a2g1@news.cis.okstate.edu> References: <92HD6.3345$D4.334091@www.newsranger.com> <200104240531.WAA01552@well.com> Reply-To: dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org NNTP-Posting-Host: x8b4e53d6.dhcp.okstate.edu User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.0 (Linux) Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:6898 Date: 2001-04-24T08:03:49+00:00 List-Id: On Tue, 24 Apr 2001, Kent Paul Dolan wrote: > Nothing has changed. My last job at Fleet, I was > handed an application suite written in 12 different > programming languages, and, it being among the > missing, added Ada 83 to the mix on my own. Oh, in > 1992 - 1994. 12 full programming languages, or are you counting stuff like make and autoconf? > * Attempt to choose tools with simple mental models, > to assure ease of programmer training. > > Follow, for example, the Modula-2 model, _not_ the Ada > model. [...] > If someone gets called a language lawyer, or needs to > be called as a language lawyer, in a discussion of how > to make something work, then you flunked. however > good the intentions of the language designers, they've > built something that won't grab mindshare. Won't grab mindshare? Why do you say that? If you compare the mindshare of Modula-2 to Ada, I think you'll find that Modula-2 is almost dead, whereas Ada is one of the common 'minor' languages. I can find as many free Algol-60 compilers as I can Modula-2 compilers, and I've never seen a library or program for or in Modula-2 appear in Freshmeat or Debian (two major open source repositories.) I haven't looked at Modula-2, but I've looked at (unextended, Wirthian) Pascal and Oberon, two of Wirth's other languages. The reason I don't use either of them is because I find the missing features to be too annoying to deal with. Generics, enumerations, bitwise operations, non-OO programming, etc. Ada provides me with all the tools I need to get almost any job done that you'd call on an Algol-class language to solve, usually in a way that I'm comfortable working with. That's important to me, and considering the rush to C++ and Perl (other languages providing a full set of tools for their fields at the cost of simplicty), I'd say that other programmers find it important too. -- David Starner - dstarner98@aasaa.ofe.org Pointless website: http://dvdeug.dhis.org "I don't care if Bill personally has my name and reads my email and laughs at me. In fact, I'd be rather honored." - Joseph_Greg