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,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 10.107.160.196 with SMTP id j187mr2243937ioe.6.1437566423639; Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:00:23 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 10.140.98.117 with SMTP id n108mr35765qge.23.1437566423516; Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:00:23 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.glorb.com!pg9no3023396igb.0!news-out.google.com!b31ni333qge.0!nntp.google.com!69no1231892qgl.1!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:00:23 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <8076cbd0-2655-4c98-b70e-cb5f0c32e4ba@googlegroups.com> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=193.17.19.233; posting-account=ku4DIwoAAACRt0A2H-srh5aOk_YodLAH NNTP-Posting-Host: 193.17.19.233 References: <29dd5458-f9ce-4db8-9128-8ab35a9ce5f8@googlegroups.com> <64bc671c-72e5-4924-b703-3b907c69949c@googlegroups.com> <877fq9uj6g.fsf@theworld.com> <65061686-5c8f-433b-9b11-9e228298158e@googlegroups.com> <87k2u96jms.fsf@jester.gateway.sonic.net> <06f8a6f9-d219-4d40-b9ac-8518e93839bd@googlegroups.com> <87y4io63jy.fsf@jester.gateway.sonic.net> <7a29d3e9-d1bd-4f4a-b1a6-14d3e1a83a4d@googlegroups.com> <87mvz36fen.fsf@jester.gateway.sonic.net> <2215b44f-8a89-47c6-a4c4-52b74d2dac45@googlegroups.com> <9e492c82-868d-43d3-a18a-38274400e337@googlegroups.com> <40184feb-4053-4ac3-8eaa-c3bd9cd8a77c@googlegroups.com> <10272577-945f-4682-85bc-8ad47f3653ae@googlegroups.com> <87si8i81k2.fsf@atmarama.net> <8076cbd0-2655-4c98-b70e-cb5f0c32e4ba@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: Subject: Re: If not Ada, what else... From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Jean_Fran=E7ois_Martinez?= Injection-Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 12:00:23 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:26976 Date: 2015-07-22T05:00:23-07:00 List-Id: On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 9:36:47 PM UTC+2, David Botton wrote: . >=20 > Things would have been so different had Ada not missed its window of oppo= rtunity with a syntax more familiar to developers and investments in bindin= gs and interfaces been made. >=20 > David Botton The problem was not syntax. The problems were: 1) Being produced by the eeeeeeeeeevil DOD. That meant politically correc= t people shunned and disparaged it 2) Missing the PC revolution. When everyone was learning C/C++ with 100$ T= urbo C either there was no Ada compiler or it was completley unaffordable f= or someone paying from his own pocket. Thus the loads of Windows software = were written in C/C++ 3) To miss the object train. In the crucial 1985-1995 years when you had = to be a object-oriented or die Ada wasn't. That and number two meant employ= ers found it was far easier to recruit C/C++ programmers than Ada ones. 4) Last but not least being a disaster at marketing. Look at the K&R book.= It is a delight to read with plenty of attractive little examples and exe= rcises who make the reader feel smart (today I would call many of them dema= gogic like the infamous one: "while (*dst++=3D*src++); -- No longer sure a= bout the syntax) the Ada books were booooooooooooring. Look at the the Bar= nes one. If you skip the introduction you will have to read a gazillion pa= ges about types before there is some action (instructions). That meant man= y potential users leafed through it and discarded the book and the language= , then they leafed through the K&R and went for it. =20 Out of competition: Perhaps because Ada is a language for senior programme= rs. When you are a junior programmer you don't underntand the benefits of = readability, maintanability and non error-prone syntax (In those years I wa= s a fan of... APL!). When you get older you understand but you move into m= anagement or system administration.