From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_50 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 21 Oct 92 00:04:28 GMT From: van-bc!cs.ubc.ca!destroyer!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!eff!world!srctran@ucbvax. Berkeley.EDU (Gregory Aharonian) Subject: Vendors/contractors ashamed of Ada? Message-ID: List-Id: One of the main rules of running a software company in the real world is get all of the PR you can. Pester editors to death, get friendly writers to write case stories involving your product, pull whatever stunts get attention, pester editors to death, bribe their secretaries, whatever it takes, just get your product mentioned in journals and magazines as much as possible. You can't wait for the editors to call - they rarely do, no matter how great your product is. If you believe in your product, you push, push, push. The reason I mention this in general is that I rarely see Ada mentioned anywhere outside the defense media community in any form. Editors I know say they are rarely if ever contacted by the Ada vendors or the defense community. The reason I mention this in particular is that the latest issue of Computerworld, front page, has a cover story on one company adopting object oriented technology, and their struggles and gains using C++. A sidebar to the article discusses a DOE scientist developing a Army battle simulation using Smalltalk. These are not isolated stories, but typical of the stories about object oriented programming, CASE, and every language but Ada. The vast bulk of the commercial world reading these journals and magazines won't even get a chance to dismiss Ada - they never hear about it. Computerworld, Information Week, MidRange Systems, Computer Design, Embedded Systems, Computer Language, Unix World, Electronic Engineering Times, CIO, the list goes on, as does the absence of Ada and Ada success stories. Even the comp.software-eng area on USENET, a great place to plug your latest CASE stuff for free, has an Ada quietness. CASEWORLD - no Ada presence. Downsizing and reengineering conferences and seminars - no Ada presence. What is it? Are the Ada vendors and the DoD ashamed of Ada? Why are they so passive about advocating a supposedly superior language? For the DoD to realize the anticipated gains that Ada provides, it will need broader free market acceptance of Ada. However it will require marketing expertise beyond what the DoD and its contractors have, have experienced, or care to do without getting more money from the government. Greg Aharonian Source Translation & Optimization -- ************************************************************************** Greg Aharonian Source Translation & Optimiztion P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178