Re: memory management and productivity

[18k11tm001@sneakemail.com (Russ)]

Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen) wrote in message news:<IKJODEu6UfVI@eisner.encompasserve.org>...
> In article <bebbba07.0406231018.21d042db@posting.google.com>, 18k11tm001@sneakemail.com (Russ) writes:
> 
> > The rocket scientists probably don't need or want automated memory
> > management for their real-time applications, but desktop application
> > developers probably do. Why not make them both happy?
> > 
> > Oh, the desktop developers are not "demanding" it? Of course they
> > aren't, because they aren't using Ada in the first place. And why
> > aren't they using Ada? Perhaps in part because it doesn't have GC.
> 
> They are off using Smalltalk ?
> 
> Why would they be using that rather than using the "build it yourself"
> form of garbage collection discussed here, all the time complaining
> that it was not built in.
> 
> > Why wait for your current customers to "demand" something before
> > adding a basic feature that could turn *potential* customers into
> > *actual* customers? I'm afraid that such short-sighted views will only
> > perpetuate the demise of Ada.
> 
> I have the feeling you don't have experience in marketing or overall
> company finance.

No, I don't. But it seems to me that Ada has a golden opportunity here
to provide a clear advantage over both C++ and Java -- and it is
declining.

C++ has no garbage collection, and development time is two to three
times greater as a result (not to mention memory leaks all over the
place). Java has GC, but everyone is working overtime to make it work
for real time. The obvious solution is to have GC available on demand
-- but *optional* at the discretion of the developer.

You Ada enthusiasts tell me that the Ada standard "allows" GC but does
not require it to be available. Well, as an engineer who would like to
promote Ada, I honestly don't know what that means. Does Ada have
standard automated memory management or doesn't it? Can I count on it,
or can't I? If not, what good is it to me?

Maybe you think I am just too simple minded. Well, maybe I am. But so
are a lot of other people, including many of the decision-making
managers you guys are so fond of. When they compare languages (if they
do), one thing they do is to set up a list of check boxes, and one is
for GC. As a rule of thumb, a check beats a question mark every time.