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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,f41074d3f38aa459 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: stt@spock.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft) Subject: Re: Where's Aetech? Date: 1995/03/30 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 100540676 sender: news@inmet.camb.inmet.com references: organization: Intermetrics, Inc. newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1995-03-30T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: GNAT has almost single-handledly rekindled grass-roots interest in Ada over the past 18 months. Without GNAT, there would have been no widely available compiler that implemented Ada 95 features for the past 18 months. AETech's compiler was Intel/DOS or Intel/POSIX only, and was not FTP-able by the new generation of Internet junkies. Note that AETech fed at the same "trough" we all did the past 5 years, namely the Ada 9X Project Office. The money provided by the Ada 9X project office enabled the Ada 9X mapping/revision process to successfully produce the first ISO standardized object-oriented programming language (pretty much on time ;-), while also funding three user/implementor teams (AETech/RR, Unisys/Telesoft, and TRW/Tartan), funding GNAT, promoting Ada's usage in universities, developing commercially-oriented marketing materials, etc. Without the efforts funded by the DoD's Ada 9X project office over the past five years, it is clear that Ada would not be seeing the resurgence in interest it is now. No Ada vendor of any sort is going to make money if there are no Ada programmers. Funding GNAT was an extremely cost-effective way to boost the number of Ada programmers. Note that there are "free" GNU compilers for other languages as well. These compilers have often been helpful in "legitimizing" these languages, by giving developers the confidence that there will be a language-X compiler available when they move to their next hardware platform, whatever it is. Certainly the availability of g++ helped with the success of C++ in the "early" days, by allowing companies to try C++ without overcommitting. GNAT can and is serving that very same role for Ada 95. -Tucker Taft stt@inmet.com Intermetrics, Inc.