Re: Ada saved by gnat (was Re: Where's Aetech?)

[stt@spock.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft)]

tmoran@bix.com wrote:

: >In summary, as long as there is a fraction (i.e. not zero), then GNAT
: >has done a good job.

: The important question is not even 'does the GNAT experience
: bring people to Ada', but 'how many people does GNAT bring to Ada
: vs how many might have been attracted by a different way (eg
: carefully researched and directed advertising, bindings, etc)'
: of spending a similar amount of money.  ie, bang for the buck.

It would be silly to attract people to Ada 95 without providing them
a way to use it economically.  Any amount of advertising, bindings, etc.,
relating to Ada 95 is pointless if there is no widely available
Ada 95 compiler.

:   We need not hundreds of folks converted to Ada, but tens of
: thousands.

GNAT was just one part of the Ada 9X Project Office's efforts
to promote Ada 95.  There are also advertisements in appropriate
magazines, a free 1-800 number, promotional videos, catalogs of 
Ada resources, a multimedia training CD-ROM, user/implementor contracts,
etc.  However, GNAT is still the critical component to all of these 
efforts, because there is no point in getting people excited about 
something without providing them some way to try it out.

-Tucker Taft   stt@inmet.com
Intermetrics, Inc.