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: 2001-01-11 17:14:04 PST Path: supernews.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.mathworks.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news2.rdc2.tx.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail From: "Larry J. Elmore" Subject: Re: Do we need "Mission-Critical" software? Was: What to Do? Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <3A4F5A4A.9ABA2C4F@chicagonet.net> <3A4F759E.A7D63F3F@netwood.net> <3A50ABDF.3A8F6C0D@acm.org> <92qdnn$jfg$1@news.huji.ac.il> <3A50C371.8B7B871@home.com> <3A51EC04.91353CE7@uol.com.br> <3A529C97.2CA4777F@home.com> <3A53CB9E.EA7CF86C@uol.com.br> <3A5466DE.811D43A5@acm.org> <932aol$ikc$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <932mi6$r2k$1@trog.dera.gov.uk> <9343b1$3g5$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <934iuf$eqv$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <937kc7$ssq$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <93c0e9$4u6$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <93e33l$tfu$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <3A5B1417.6190CFC@acm.org> User-Agent: Pan/0.9.1 (Unix) X-No-Productlinks: Yes Message-ID: <_Qs76.29814$ge4.11900871@news2.rdc2.tx.home.com> Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 01:11:22 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 65.10.25.74 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news2.rdc2.tx.home.com 979261882 65.10.25.74 (Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:11:22 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 11 Jan 2001 17:11:22 PST Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Xref: supernews.google.com comp.lang.ada:3933 Date: 2001-01-12T01:11:22+00:00 List-Id: In article <3A5B1417.6190CFC@acm.org>, "Marin David Condic" wrote: > I agree that it is unlikely, but stranger things have happened. > Remember that C was around for a very long time, hiding in dark > corners of the world, before it started becoming super popular. > Circumstances came about that got it in front of enough people to > generate a critical mass > & the rest is history. > > Could the same thing happen for Ada? I wouldn't hold my breath, but I > think it is possible. It would be nice, wouldn't it? More exposure would help since it seems to me that an increasing number of programmers are becoming more open to alternatives to C++ and Java. IIRC, Linux Journal recently ran a positive article about Ada in general and GNAT in particular. There were some mistakes in it, I think, and I thought about submitting a more detailed and accurate article to LJ. I've been bogged down with work lately, but soon I'll have the time to actually do it, I hope. :) I'd be ecstatic if only I could get my employer (Inet Technologies) or at least my department to convert to Ada. We use a proprietary "language" based on C (gcc 2.8.1) that might be better characterized as an API made up of _extensive_ macros. The code base has been growing rapidly and is getting rather creaky and catankerous because of all kinds of interdependencies. We'll be making a major effort Real Soon Now to reorganize and fix everything, but it's going to be a major undertaking. I'm going to push the idea that as long as we're going to have to go through this arduous process, it would be to our great long-term benefit to bite the bullet and also migrate to Ada in the process. It's going to be a tough sell, that's for sure, especially since I'm a junior programmer. :-( Larry