Re: Language design by by committee ( was Re: Try J# ( was Re: J# is there ))

[ev_remove_this_ans@evans.pgh.pa.us (Arthur Evans Jr)]

In article <m3n12sp1l7.fsf@blight.transcend.org>, Ray Blaak
<blaak@telus.net> wrote:

> This is quite possible, and I have encountered this before. On the other hand,
> a group of people very often catches things the lone genious overlooked.

You've picked up on what I see as the great strength of the Ada
design process.  Although the design itself was largely the work of
a single immensely talented individual, Jean Ichbiah, there were
(at least) two "committees" surrounding the design.

Jean's Design Team in France included first rate people who
influenced the design in many ways.  They all contributed.

And the Distinguished Reviewers carefully examined all aspects of
the design and gave their feedback to the Design Team.

Thus while the Ada design was controled by a single induvidual, he
had the benefit of many talented people ofering analyses and
opinions of the design at each step.

Was Jean really in control?  Surely!  As someone reported earlier
on this thread, he retained derived types in the face of an
overwhelming vote of the DRs to delete that feature.  And in
hindsight I'm happy to say we were wrong and he was right.  OTOH,
there were many occasions when the DRs raised objections that Jean
accepted, leading to redesign.  In other words, he listened to us
but didn't necessarily follow us.  In the end, he decided.

Although I was of course not privy to the inner workings of the
Design Team, I have no doubt that the same kinds of interactions
took place there, too.

Art Evans