Re: Anybody in US using ADA ? One silly idea..

["Marin David Condic" <mcondic.auntie.spam@acm.org>]

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Bill Findlay <yaldnifw@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:BA3B86D9.17DB%yaldnifw@blueyonder.co.uk...
>
> That pretty much sums up what type (1) critics said.
> Despite my making fun of them, I do think they have the makings of a
point.
> But don�t you think that (other things being equal - and that is what you
> are emphasizing) Ada *would* get them to market sooner?
>
Well if they are saying exactly what I'm saying, then they're right. :-)
They may be saying something else - or you're hearing something else, if you
find disagreements here. Your problem is the "Other things being equal"
part. They never are. Contemplating a project you want to take to market,
you look at what is available to you and quite often with C or C++, you've
got an OS, GUI, Database, etc. that are all written in C and can be
interfaced/embedded/whatever rather readily as long as you use C/C++ to do
the job. Sure you'll spend twice as long debugging the unholy mess, but
you'll have something to show the customer *much* sooner than the guys who
are working in Ada and spending the first 6 months developing the bindings,
libraries, utilities, etc., they'll need to just get to where you are at
when you open up the box and install the compiler. Sure your product will be
a piece of crap - but it will be the only thing available to the customer,
so he'll buy it and use it anyway and you'll have money in your pocket and a
customer locked in to your product just about the time the Ada guys are
going "Hey, we've got the bindings and libraries and tools now. Let's get
started building the app."

I don't think most companies build crap software because they *want* to.
They do it because they're using tools/methods that result in crap, but crap
that gets there quickly. Bringing them something that let them build
solid-gold apps just as quickly might persuade them to switch.




> I was even more depressed that type (2) critics, who did care about
quality,
> had the perception that Ada was a crutch for the talentless.
> This is so contrary to my own perception that I find it bewildering.
>
I've always been disappointed by the "Any *competent* programmer..."
argument, but not at all surprised. Back in the days of Shakespear there was
the "Any *competent* carpenter can do his job with an axe and doesn't need
that crutch you call a 'saw'..." Eventually, the crutch can win out because
it is providing leverage to the developer, so I don't get discouraged. Its
just that Ada's particular 'crutch' is not being perceived as a big enough
deal to warrant switching to Ada. So maybe Ada just needs to come up with a
bigger, better crutch?

MDC
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Marin David Condic
I work for: http://www.belcan.com/
My project is: http://www.jast.mil/

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