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

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

Sure, there are a lot of "impression" issues, but lets look at what it was
that Sun did right with Java.

They spent a truckload of money advertizing Java when it first came out so
that people had a favorable impression of it and a willingness to look at
it.

They actually made some improvements over C/C++ that eliminated some of the
worst syntactic & semantic problems.

They provided truckloads of library code that leveraged development of GUI
based applications.

They promised and mostly delivered the ability to develop on one platform
and run on many.

They made the compiler available for the cost of a download so that anybody
could play the game.

They targeted a market with a real need (Internet apps) that wasn't being
addressed well by other languages.

In other words, they made it easy and desirable for people to try Java and
they delivered real development leverage over its nearest competitor. They
found a real need out there and filled it.

Ada *could* do the same, but not by trying to play a "me too" game or by
trying to be all things to all developers. Find a market with a real need
and start giving them real advantages and I think you'd see that market
start to move to Ada.

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

Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g

    "I'd trade it all for just a little more"
        --  Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10]
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Warren W. Gay VE3WWG <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca> wrote in message
news:3E15D2E2.9040807@cogeco.ca...
>
> While I just finished harping on library/binding support in an earlier
> post in reply to you, I just realized something reading this reply. Java
> has had (at least initially) the same binding/library challenges that
> Ada95 has in the current general purpose world. Yet everyone and their
> grandmother has come out with bindings to databases etc. to make Java
> work within an application framework with great enthusiasm.
>
> Q. So why is the enthusiasm so different for Ada, than it is/has been
>     for Java?
>
> The overwhelming difference (I think) is simply that Java is new and is
> seen as (or was) "cutting edge". Ada is seen simply as "old and big".
>
> You don't find Borland (for example) thrilled about selling support
> for Ada, but they might be enthused over selling Java support.
>
> Could there be more substance to the "new" suggestion after all?
>
> Maybe the Ada way must distance itself from:
>
>    - the Military association
>    - the US assocation(?)
>    - the committee association
>    - the being "old" asociation
>    - the being "big and clumsy" association
>
> and maybe it just needs to be resold as :
>
>    - the latest new computer science theory of "reliable computing"
>      (even though the solution was well understood in ages past ;-)
>
> Just like in science where the theory is often not well accepted
> until the author of it passes away, we may need to have Ada
> reborn to have it gain acceptance.  ;-)
>
> --
> Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
> http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg
>