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,LOTS_OF_MONEY autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,c6c96fe0302f04f X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-08-20 05:27:00 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!syros.belnet.be!news.belnet.be!psinet-eu-nl!psiuk-p4!uknet!psiuk-p3!uknet!psiuk-n!news.pace.co.uk!nh.pace.co.uk!not-for-mail From: "Marin D. Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Would you use Ada more if... Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 13:50:30 -0400 Organization: Posted on a server owned by Pace Micro Technology plc Message-ID: References: <3D612669.2B0BA48C@adaworks.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dhcp-200-180.miami.pace.co.uk X-Trace: nh.pace.co.uk 1029779431 1263 136.170.200.180 (19 Aug 2002 17:50:31 GMT) X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@news.cam.pace.co.uk NNTP-Posting-Date: 19 Aug 2002 17:50:31 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:28241 Date: 2002-08-19T17:50:31+00:00 List-Id: Well, its not that hard to understand. Bookstores don't want to stock books unless some fair number of people are going to pick them up off the shelf and pay for them. Conference organizers don't want to bring in lectures that folks won't find relevant to their current work or needs. Magazines don't want to publish articles advocating a language that is perceived as having largely been ignored. You can't really blame people for following the market. I am convinced that better PR is a) not likely to happen and b) not likely to change anything. We in the Ada community tend to stand around saying "Look, its a really great language..." - which may be true, but is not nearly so compelling as "Here's this spiffy thing I built with Ada...." or "Here's how I made my first million dollars with Ada..." (The two possibly being closely related.) You observe that articles about other things with an "Oh, by the way, it was done with Ada..." line is right on track. People want to see that something cool was done and will be less concerned about the language. If what was done was truly cool, they'll pick up the code and start fiddling around with it and you'll find new converts to the language that way. I doubt people want to read dozens of articles about how cool *any* language is. They'd rather read an article on how someone implemented some tricky math thing or clever navigation thing or internet web thing and if they discover that it was done with Ada, they'll have an incentive to learn something about the language. Likewise, if a software product is built and a successful business is established selling it (or related services & support - it amounts to the same thing) that's the sort of thing that people will take notice of. If Ada is *really* better at building mousetraps, then it would seem that a little entrepreneurial activity along those lines will be rewarded. When someone can stand up and say "We're making more money than our competitors and one of the big reasons for that is our software quality due to Ada..." its going to get noticed and immitated. When someone dreams up a new electronic gadget and programs it in Ada, it will help create that critical mass. When someone develops a new business system and programs it in Ada, they'll create more Ada jobs and more interest in the language will result. The way for Ada to become a market force is for the Ada-philes to construct a market that uses Ada. When that happens, the PR will be a natural outflow. Waiting for some organization to start a PR campaign is probably fruitless, but creating success will breed more success and with it will come the favorable PR. MDC -- Marin David Condic Senior Software Engineer Pace Micro Technology Americas www.pacemicro.com Enabling Digital. Our Vision is to be the biggest supplier worldwide of digital gateway technology. www.pacemicro.com "Richard Riehle" wrote in message news:3D612669.2B0BA48C@adaworks.com... > > What is just as bad is that no Ada books appear on the shelves > of bookstores anymore, even those that specialize in computer > books. Book publishers, all of them as nearly as I can determine,