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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,7ee10ec601726fbf X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-10-07 22:50:08 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!news.service.uci.edu!not-for-mail From: "Navid Azimi" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: is Ada dying? Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 22:42:01 -0700 Organization: University of California, Irvine Message-ID: <9prebb$1on$1@news.service.uci.edu> References: <3BC0F75B.51D32B3@adaworks.com> <9pr8gu0tnf@drn.newsguy.com> <3BC1305D.1C6910C@worldnet.att.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: cx11387-b.msnv1.occa.home.com X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:13897 Date: 2001-10-07T22:42:01-07:00 List-Id: James, Robert is right in many aspects. Ada is *much* more difficult to learn (resources/information/etc) than Java. I have done both recently and I found the amount of help available (may it be newsgroups/faq/websites) for Java is much more than Ada. Now if Ada was able to pull everything together into one big central site/package it would help a lot of people, not to mention people who are trying to learn Ada. I tried to learn Ada a few months ago, and I couldn't even get a straight answer to what type of compiler exists. Not one person would give me a right answer, and to this day, I still don't know. I found a compiler on the www.adapower.com but it was soo poorly documented I had no clue how to run it. I couldn't find any examples of quick programs (hello world) to see how the syntax was, nor was I able to do anything friendly with it. I didn't need a huge-tutorial. I know how to program. I just wanted some quick points about how to compile/run, how the code (syntax) looks like, and the few *basic* commands, such as: output, loops, functions. Yet, it was soo tedious that I have given up. I still am on this newsgroup regulargly because I enjoy reading Qs and As... - K PS. Maybe someone can even help me with my probs =) "James Rogers" wrote in message news:3BC1305D.1C6910C@worldnet.att.net... > "Robert*@" wrote: > > > > > > Ada as a language is good. Better than C/C++ or Java. > > > > What Ada needs is a standard or at least a psudo-standard set of > > auxilary packages that come well documented (HTML) and ready to plug in > > and use (similar to that Java huge standard library). > > > > Untill this happens, Ada will remain a good language, few admirars, little > > used and nothing more. > > > > I am taking about packages for doing all sort of usefull pratical things, > > like those found in Java packages. > > I love the standard Java API classes. They are poorly documented. > Their algorithms are completely undocumented. You only hope they do > what you think they will. No worrys though. If a class is found to > be dangerous it can always be deprecated in a later release. > > > ACT has been doing a good job of Adding usefull packages to its GNAT > > package, but it is still very much too little compared to what Java has, > > and with no way to for others to help add to it. > > > > With Ada, the case now is that if you want a package to do something, you > > go and do some search on the web, find some bits and pieces of code, download, > > try to build, and see if that will work or not. With Java, I download the > > JDK, and everything is there. Well documented, and ready to use. > > > > Having a central single place to get things from is a Good Thing (tm). Examples > > of such things > > > > http://www.sunfreeware.com/ <--- Want any solaris package? go here > > http://java.sun.com <--- Want the JDK? go here > > http://www.gnu.org/software/java/ <--- Want the GNU java collection? go here > > http://www.gjt.org/ <--- want the Giant Java tree collection? go here > > > > etc.. > > Wait a minute while I count my fingers and toes. It looks to me like > this is a list of more than one place to find everything. Am I > missing something here? > > This looks a lot like finding the Ada package you want. You still > need to know the single right place to go amongst what appears to be > an abundance of single right places. > > > Anyway, my point is that, Ada needs such a centalized, single place, to get > > standard usefull packages from. > > Given what you describe above, I would say that Ada already has that. > > It also has a standard, which Java does not. Most of the Java stuff > is in a single place because the language belongs to one company. > Java is whatever Sun says it is. Given the changes in the language > from Java 1.0 to Java 1.1 to JDK 1.2 to JSDK 1.3 to the almost > released JSE 1.4, I wonder which language you use when you say you > use Java. Don't forget that you need standard patches to do some of > the more useful stuff. For instance, you must patch the JSE 1.3 > with JSEE 1.3 to be able to use Enterprise Java Bean technology. > This means that your client's Java Runtime Environment must > have the compatible libraries also. A big part of your Java system > is shipped to your customers as the Java Runtime Environment. > This presents you with serious compatibility and upgrade issues.