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=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,bf43a183ce108291 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-09-08 10:38:06 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!xlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!zombie.ncsc.mil!paladin.american.edu!auvm!PSAVAX.PWFL.COM!CONDIC Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Message-ID: Date: Thu, 8 Sep 1994 10:45:13 EDT Sender: Ada programming language From: CONDIC@PSAVAX.PWFL.COM Subject: Re: Government Policy on Ada Acquisitions Comments: To: INFO-ADA@VM1.NODAK.EDU Date: 1994-09-08T10:45:13-04:00 List-Id: From: Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93 Subject: Re: Government Policy on Ada Acquisitions Original_To: PROFS%"SMTP@PWAGPDB" Original_cc: CONDIC On Wed, 7 Sep 1994 19:07:41, Michael Feldman wrote: > >I have a really wacky, fuzzy-headed academic sort-of idea. >How 'bout if all the Ada companies who are sitting and bitching about >the lack of tools, and fighting GNAT at every turn, >... > I couldn't agree more and would like to add that this is *exactly* the way that C got its start. Remember when ATT was practically *giving* away UNIX to universities in C source code along with a C compiler? Didn't that do a lot to make UNIX/C popular? Eventually (when regulatory problems settled out) ATT started licensing the technology to just about any computer company that wanted it and - as I recall - the fees were not so exhorbitant as to make development from scratch an attractive proposition. Now I have no experience with GNAT because nobody has a port for VAX/VMS yet. (Or is there one, of which I do not know?) Maybe it's a half-way decent system that needs some polish (value added) and a support environment (more value added) and some clever tools (even more value added) That sounds like a way for someone with some entreprenurial spirit to leverage a large government investment into a going private concern. (Sort of like Berkley Unix, XENIX, ULTRIX, etc. etc. etc. All UNIX clones with value added by some vendor.) On the other hand, GNAT might very well be a piece of crap that is too large, too slow, too hard to modify, too costly to bring to validation, and so on. If that's the case, I could see why vendors would want to steer clear of it in favor of their own, ground up development. (This was true of lots of early Ada83 software that was funded by the government.) But from the noise I hear from this and other nets concerning GNAT, I don't get the impression that it is a hopeless corpus of software. It may very well be possible to take GNAT, target it to a few critical systems (PC, Mac, PowerPC,...) and produce a commercially viable product for, say, under $200 and get it out there competing with C/C++ and all the rest. Anyone out there interested in starting up a venture? Pax Vobiscum, Marin Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer ATT: 407.796.8997 M/S 731-93 Technet: 796.8997 Pratt & Whitney, GESP Internet: CONDICMA@PWFL.COM P.O. Box 109600 Internet: MDCONDIC@AOL.COM West Palm Beach, FL 33410-9600 Internet: 4033121@MCIMAIL.COM =============================================================================== "According to my best recollection, I don't remember." -- Vincent "Jimmy Blue Eyes" Alo ===============================================================================