Re: Cohen: "Ada As A Second Language" - 05 Update?

["Chip and Allie Orange" <acorange@comcast.net>]

Hi Richard,

Just one note: my brother-in-law worked for Rational, and now for IBM, and 
is their lead programmer on the run-time for Apex.

They have reduced their staff, and aren't making much effort in marketing 
it, but they are still supporting and developing Apex.

As far as I can tell, it's the lack of marketing, not support, that gives 
the impression that they've "lost their way" in regards to Ada.  I also 
understand that Apex is still considered the market leader in Ada 
cross-compilers for embedded systems.

BTW, I am especially appreciative of your book being made available in 
electronic form, and not just paper.  I do wish more e-books were available 
for Ada.

Chip


<adaworks@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message 
news:Y%KYh.1684$tp5.1456@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net...
> Dr. Cohen works for IBM and IBM has very little interest in
> Ada.
>
> Even Rational, a company now owned by IBM and originally founded
> to build Ada compilers and tools, has pretty much lost its way with
> regard to Ada.
>
> It is an economic issue, as well. Since the compiler publishers can no
> longer charge inflated prices for Ada compilers for a captive customer,
> as they could during the years of the mandate, the economic incentive
> has diminished.   That fact, coupled with the fact that IBM, for the
> most part, has never demonstrated any interest in nor competence
> in, Ada, rules out any liklihood that Dr. Cohen will given the resources
> he needs to update his book.
>
> I originally intended to update my own book, Ada Distilled.  I had hoped
> to be able to do so by this Spring.   However, economics again prevails.
> The school where I teach has abandoned any interest in Ada, and I am
> required to focus my attention on other topics.   The text of Ada 
> Distilled
> is in the public domain, pretty much as open source, so anyone who might
> want to update it, as a consortium, or as an individual, is free to do so. 
> I
> would only hope that such an effort would be carried out in the spririt of
> the original work with an emphasis on clarity tempered with brevity.
>
> Richard Riehle
>
> "pakman" <pakman744@nospam.com> wrote in message 
> news:YImdnaBvGOMUjK_bnZ2dnUVZ_ualnZ2d@comcast.com...
>> Greetings,
>>
>> As a reviewer of Cohen's Ada as a 2nd Language, 2nd ed, I had contacted 
>> Mr. Cohen and asked him if he had any plans of updating his excellent 
>> text for Ada 2005.
>>
>> He replied that he did not have any plans to revise the text. I suspect 
>> his work has taken him away from keeping up with Ada 2005.
>>
>> Most unfortunate, as I've considered Mr. Cohen's text the be the most 
>> complete and nearly perfect of all the Ada texts.
>>
>> Perhaps if we petition IBM and Mr. Cohen he might reconsider.
>>
>> I would be willing to review the text again.
>>
>> John Cupak
>>
>> "PnkFlyd" <pnkflyd831@gmail.com> wrote in message 
>> news:1177680878.226297.151180@s33g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
>>> In a previous thread many people mentioned that they use Cohen's book,
>>> as do our staff here at my work (15 Ada programmers).
>>>
>>> Cohen's website 
>>> http://domino.research.ibm.com/comm/research_people.nsf/pages/ncohen.index.html
>>> does not mention any recent activity in the area writing a 3rd edition
>>> to incorporate Ada05.
>>>
>>> Have any of you heard from Cohen any interest in doing so?  Do you
>>> think there is enough of an interest to make it a financially viable
>>> option that we could possibly champion?  I would hate to see Cohen's
>>> excellent book not be picked up by new Ada programmers just because
>>> the book is "out of date".
>>>
>>
>>
>
>