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 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1ea92c0e5255811d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-03-05 11:11:10 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!wn14feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!rwcrnsc54.POSTED!not-for-mail From: tmoran@acm.org Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Way OT: Adam Smith and Software Markets References: X-Newsreader: Tom's custom newsreader Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.234.13.56 X-Complaints-To: abuse@attbi.com X-Trace: rwcrnsc54 1046891468 12.234.13.56 (Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:11:08 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:11:08 GMT Organization: AT&T Broadband Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 19:11:09 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34927 Date: 2003-03-05T19:11:09+00:00 List-Id: >O.K. I can live with that. Given that one needs to ask what "Better" means >to the programming language consumer. >So C/C++ may be "better" because there is a huge installed base of software Darwin wouldn't have said "There are a lot of ants in the world, therefore ants must be the fittest creatures." In a niche with certain resources and problems, ants do very well. In another niche, in the same world, humans do quite well. If humans want to displace ants in a location, they have to modify the environment in human friendly, ant unfriendly, ways. If we want Ada to displace C in some market, we need to modify that market - pointing out the dangers of C, encouraging software liability laws, getting government seed money, building convenient Ada libraries, whatever - in Ada friendly, C unfriendly, ways. >One ignores Adam Smith at one's peril. Its sort of like ignoring gravity. Free Markets are to Adam Smith as apples are to Isaac Newton. Newton didn't say "gravity makes everything fall, therefore satellites can't work" and Smith didn't say "Free Markets are the single best solution under all circumstances".