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: 103376,447bd1cf7a88c198 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-01-01 16:40:52 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!216.227.56.88.MISMATCH!telocity-west!TELOCITY!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!sjc-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada From: Brian Rogoff Subject: Re: What to Do? In-Reply-To: <01HW.B6765648002CE836078EC71C@news.pacbell.net> Message-ID: References: <3A4F5A4A.9ABA2C4F@chicagonet.net> <3A4F759E.A7D63F3F@netwood.net> <3A50ABDF.3A8F6C0D@acm.org> <92qdnn$jfg$1@news.huji.ac.il> <01HW.B6765648002CE836078EC71C@news.pacbell.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 00:41:10 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.184.139.136 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verio.net X-Trace: sjc-read.news.verio.net 978396070 206.184.139.136 (Tue, 02 Jan 2001 00:41:10 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 00:41:10 GMT Organization: Verio Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:3535 Date: 2001-01-02T00:41:10+00:00 List-Id: On Mon, 1 Jan 2001, David Kristola wrote: > On Mon, 1 Jan 2001 9:08:47 -0800, Ehud Lamm wrote > (in message <92qdnn$jfg$1@news.huji.ac.il>): > > > In fact, I think one problem Ada had (note past tense) was lack of > > amateurs. I agree! I've said before that we need more Ada hackers. I think the high quality student versions of GNAT really make this possible, and the existence of adapower as a sort of "Ada central" fills the void caused by the HBAP flakeout. > > As opposed to such "cool" languages like C++ and Java (and in the old day > > Turbo Pascal), most hobbyist never hear of Ada, or hear misleading info (see > > Jargon File). I think these days things are changing a bit (I am judging > > mainly from this group, AdaPower etc.) > > > > I think that if we succeed in making the Ada community larger, by attracting > > hobbyists, the "real world" situation will improve too. (I still haven't > > found the time to write "Why should Hackers Love Ada?" If anyone wnats to > > write it, feel free...) I'm glad "hacker" is not being used in a pejorative sense! > I've been an Ada advocate on a few of the MUD news groups. Many people > over there have not even heard of the language. On the other hand, > many are programming MUDs specifically to learn "C/C++". > > Good free software is important to most (if not all) hobbyists. Many > are students with limited resources exploring new ideas. GNAT makes > Ada freely available (thanks Ada Core Technologies!). GNAT has saved Ada from oblivion IMO, or at least delayed it sufficiently long that its an interesting option. > PS: Who would have guessed that Milpitas CA (USA) would be a hotbed > for hobbyist Ada development? Bill Dale recently posted information > about his hobbyist Ada development activities here in Milpitas. Maybe we need a Silly Valley Ada Users Group? -- Brian (in Santa Clara, the belly of the beast)