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=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,4871bb700d475964 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-06 13:26:09 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!isdnet!psinet-france!psiuk-f4!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: an interested business-oriented programmer Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2001 16:02:09 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: <9fm284$9vd$1@nh.pace.co.uk> References: <9flodm$6jb$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3B1E7320.5E21BB4F@lmtas.lmco.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 136.170.200.133 X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 991857732 10221 136.170.200.133 (6 Jun 2001 20:02:12 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 6 Jun 2001 20:02:12 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:8259 Date: 2001-06-06T20:02:12+00:00 List-Id: Well.... To some extent, you've got that. For example, Gnat with AdaGIDE and GDB (on a Windows/PC platform) gets you part of the way there. Picking up GTKAda or Claw gets you a GUI builder. Various packages within Gnat and from a variety of other sources kind of gets you the sorts of things you might find in MFC. So it isn't as if you can't get there from here. What you don't have (and I've suggested before that it would be A Good Thing) is one highly integrated set of tools and documents that do all of these things together as one unified development kit. Part of the problem is that Ada desires to be as portable as possible and these sorts of integrated development kits aim at specific platforms. Another problem is that Ada doesn't have a big, institutional investor (ala Microsoft or Sun) to subsidize the development of such a kit and market it as the cure for what ails you. The Ada vendors that are out there can only do so much with the funds they have so unless the market appeared to be big enough to attract sufficient buyers, its hard for them to make a business case for such an investment. If I had the wealth of Bill Gates and the desire to promote Ada, I'd do this: Fund a development kit that had the editor, compiler, class library, GUI builder, debugger & documentation all wired together in something vaguely approximating what MSVC++ does. I'd get a good "Beginning Ada" book and "How To Use Marin's Development Classes" book written & bundled together with the CD containing the kit (electronic and printed form). I'd get the kits put into stand-alone displays with flashy graphics in computer and student bookstores, priced at a level that makes it possible to "impulse buy" the package. (Maybe even make the whole thing downloadable from the Internet at the same time...free or for a fee?) That and a few adds in geek magazines (and, of course, the Internet) about how cool Ada is and where to get the development kit ought to about do it. A whole class of programmers exists out there who have never heard of Ada (and thus don't have any anti-Ada bigotry) who might be willing to learn it and try it out if they had an entire kit available to them at an affordable price. Of course, I don't have that kind of money and most of the people that do aren't spending it to promote languages - unless it is one they control & think will ultimately reap them financial rewards. Maybe something similar could be done as a consortium with part-timers in it for possible future rewards, but I don't think it can happen without some substantial investment of $$$. At one time, the government might have done this back when they had a vested interest in making Ada succeed, but they've basically abandoned Ada in terms of any financial committment. MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling the digital revolution e-Mail: marin.condic@pacemicro.com Web: http://www.mcondic.com/ "Gary Scott" wrote in message news:3B1E7320.5E21BB4F@lmtas.lmco.com... > Hi, > So why doesn't someone put together a "Visual Ada" product integrated > with Visual Studio and mass market it? They did it for Fortran... >