From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 6 Dec 92 22:56:14 GMT From: world!srctran@uunet.uu.net (Gregory Aharonian) Subject: Re: C++ vs. Ada -- Is Ada loosing? Message-ID: List-Id: The question shouldn't be so much that "Is Ada loosing?", but rather "Can a language nurtured in a socialist environment (Ada) compete with a language nurtured in a free market environment (C/C++)?" Note this shifts the argument (as I have been long arguing, apparently to myself) away from language syntax and semantics, and towards language socioeconomics. Posed this way, one answer would be that "Ada started in at most fourth place (after Cobol, Fortran, and C/C++) and will never catch up". C/C++ is an imperfect language that thrives because its flaws creates markets for software tools that create more use of the language and more tools, etc., resulting in a thriving market. (One of the early claims of some Ada vendors was that you didn't need many software tools to use Ada.) C/C++ is an open language, constantly being debated, as well as its environments and methodologies, subject to the evolutionary forces of the free markets. Ada is hostage to a bureacracy that suppresses criticism and ignores free markets. Thus, if you had money to invest in a software company, would you do it for Ada or C/C++? Greg Aharonian -- ************************************************************************** Greg Aharonian Source Translation & Optimiztion P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178