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: fdb77,5f529c91be2ac930 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 11232c,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,583275b6950bf4e6 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-04-26 21:55:11 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.uchicago.edu!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.mathworks.com.MISMATCH!newsfeed!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!sccrnsc03.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Steve" Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.object,comp.lang.ada,misc.misc References: <3E5C7033.BD5DC462@adaworks.com> <9fa75d42.0302260618.7506cba7@posting.google.com> <3E5CF5C6.84822F57@adaworks.com> <8qkczsAcGcn+Ew83@nildram.co.uk> <3EA04A1E.CAFC1FEF@adaworks.com> <9fa75d42.0304260644.764b8674@posting.google.com> Subject: Re: the Ada mandate, and why it collapsed and died (was): 64 bit addressing and OOP X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.211.13.75 X-Complaints-To: abuse@attbi.com X-Trace: sccrnsc03 1051419306 12.211.13.75 (Sun, 27 Apr 2003 04:55:06 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 04:55:06 GMT Organization: AT&T Broadband Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 04:55:06 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.java.advocacy:62745 comp.object:62101 comp.lang.ada:36636 misc.misc:13744 Date: 2003-04-27T04:55:06+00:00 List-Id: "soft-eng" wrote in message news:9fa75d42.0304260644.764b8674@posting.google.com... [snip] > > A better description would be "Pascal concepts taken to extreme". > > Take highway lane dividing lines painted on the road, for > example. These are a *good* idea and promote safety. Now > give them to Jean Ichbiah, and instead of simple painted > lines, you would have brilliantly colered dividers that are > one foot high and electrically shock anybody who tries to cross > them except at approved lane crossing points. It is not clear > that all concepts are helpful beyond a point. In fact, > Ichbiah's dividers may deter safety, because many drivers > may accidentally run into the dividers, and once in a while > when to avoid running into the multi-car pileup you have > to change lanes *right now*, you wouldn't be able to do it. > All in the name of safety. I prefer a different analogy. Imagine having 100 different electronics devices, all which have 30 pin ribbon cable connections. Some of the devices have different pinouts, and connecting two devices with different pinouts can either cause damage to the devices or cause the devices to malfunction. The typing mechanism in Ada is like keying all of the connectors such that it is impossible to connect two devices in a way that will cause damage. BTW: A better place to take this discussion would be team-ada@acm.org. Steve (The Duck)