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, LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,be23df8e7e275d73 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-07-17 09:19:41 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeeds.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!psinet-eu-nl!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 Ada IDE and discussions Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 11:49:54 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: <9j1mr3$5fb$1@nh.pace.co.uk> References: <0zS27.187213$DG1.31590366@news1.rdc1.mi.home.com> <3B4FEFDE.10E7B423@snafu.de> <9iuvsd$361$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <9j12ic$bvi$1@s1.read.news.oleane.net> <9j1ee8$258$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <%vY47.3041$Aw2.4266090@nnrp6.proxad.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 136.170.200.133 X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 995384995 5611 136.170.200.133 (17 Jul 2001 15:49:55 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 17 Jul 2001 15:49:55 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:10071 Date: 2001-07-17T15:49:55+00:00 List-Id: Win32 programming *is* a standard of sorts that is widely used - millions of people have it & use it daily. Hence ignoring that market is not wise. But remember that the various flavors of Unix are *also* a kind of a standard that is used by millions of people daily. Operating in that environment is very important as well. Ada is (at least in part) about standards *and* portability. Its nice to be able to build code on one machine and have it compile/run on another machine with a very different architecture. To this end, I applaud GtkAda - it is trying to provide a common GUI building environment across two very different platforms & from what I gather is succeeding at that. It is hard to merge the two systems without settling on *some* style that is going to clash with the other style. Is it wise to adopt the Unix/Motif look-&-feel and try to force Windows into that mode? Or should the Windows L&F have been forced onto the Unix side? Take your pick - some substantial part of the computer programming & using weorld is going to be unhappy. I guess that since the GtkAda started from the Gtk/Unix world, the choice got made to move that style to the Windows side. Should they have pitched the style & started fresh? They might not have had a product at all if they did. Certainly, they'd face competition from Claw and others. It might have become a "me too!" product that had no special niche. I won't gripe about GtkAda not fitting the paradigm I'm used to. I'd consider it as a potential tool if a) I was developing in Ada and b) I needed portability between Unix & Windows. (If I was Windows only, I'd want something that did the L&F of Windows rather than a compromise.) One could also evaluate the possibility of using Ada and Java to produce systems that were portable - and even Internet ready, so there are alternatives. The decision would come down to a comparison of environments & features & price and so on. The minute you remove constraint A (develop in Ada) the choices expand a lot. Hence if the objective is to build apps that are portable between Unix and Windows, GtkAda has to stack up favorably against a lot of other players. So the question for the developers is "What market(s) are you shooting for and how do you stack up against the competitors in that market?" 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/ "nicolas" wrote in message news:%vY47.3041$Aw2.4266090@nnrp6.proxad.net... > > Well, on that specific point, Win32 programming is such a standard, that I'm > not sure that there is any choice. > It's up to Ada vendors to provide something natural and intuitive for Win32 > programmers if they want to survive. > Or at least something natural and intuitive to Java programmers who find > almost everything coming with their compiler. > Why trying to promote others concepts than those which satisfy almost > everybody ? > After all, Ada is about standards, reuse, and not invent the wheel again > every day. >