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-Thread: 103376,6e045a5e739e2c80 X-Google-NewGroupId: yes X-Google-Attributes: gida07f3367d7,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Received: by 10.68.235.4 with SMTP id ui4mr20982pbc.3.1331209271644; Thu, 08 Mar 2012 04:21:11 -0800 (PST) MIME-Version: 1.0 Path: h9ni2335pbe.0!nntp.google.com!news1.google.com!goblin1!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!newsfeed1.swip.net!85.214.198.2.MISMATCH!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!mx04.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Simon Clubley Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Early availability of cheap Ada compilers (Was: Re=Fun_with_History why_wasnt_Ada83_object_oriented) Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 12:21:10 +0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: <15362655.665.1330003793505.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@pbbox6> <13615928.2120.1330273323697.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@ynjd19> <87d38ohf9g.fsf_-_@adaheads.sparre-andersen.dk> Injection-Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 12:21:10 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: mx04.eternal-september.org; posting-host="4pjzwDT2MPp9AkNxUo/C4Q"; logging-data="21226"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/XZF17e3yZWA7Gl4Tdf90HJBEF1RhhuTE=" User-Agent: slrn/0.9.8.1 (VMS/Multinet) Cancel-Lock: sha1:aiKkPxU/iDOeoWfs8ha2x/jZzPE= Date: 2012-03-08T12:21:10+00:00 List-Id: On 2012-03-07, Randy Brukardt wrote: > "Jacob Sparre Andersen" wrote in message > news:87d38ohf9g.fsf_-_@adaheads.sparre-andersen.dk... >> Randy Brukardt wrote: >> >>> Subset versions of Janus/Ada were introduced in 1981, and on the IBM >>> PC in 1982. There were other companies, too. All of these compilers >>> were competitively priced for the time (several hundred dollars) -- >>> the dirt cheap compilers (in more ways than one) came later (including >>> versions of Janus/Ada for $99; indeed, that compiler is *still* in our >>> catelog at $129). >> >> Why was it that I couldn't find it in 1993, when I was actually looking >> for an Ada compiler? >> >> I suppose I wasn't looking in the right place. But where was the right >> place to look back then? > > I don't know. I can't remember how we ever could have found anything prior > to AltaVista. (I'm not going to give Google credit for something that they > didn't invent...:-). > Back in those days, there was still a viable marketplace for serious computing magazines as well as the various game commodity level magazines. Those serious magazines were a primary source of current trends and information for me in those days. My personal path to finding out about Janus/Ada in the same timeframe (maybe even a year or two earlier) went something like: 1) Read one of those magazines on a monthly basis. 2) Notice a advert by someone called Grey Matter selling compilers. 3) Request their full price list. 4) Notice the cheap compilers including something called Janus/Ada. 5) Request detailed information on this new to me compiler. 6) Come close to buying it (but I never did; sorry Randy :-)) > Advertising was hit-or-miss. (And our budget was $0 by 1993.) Lists of > validated compilers and the like helped, but you had to know about the AdaIC > in order to get that information. Trade shows like SIGAda were a good place > to find out things, but you had to know about them. And so on... > Explaining this advertising world to someone under 20 is like explaining what life was like, say, before television to those of us who have never known a world without multiple television options. A non-Internet world is totally foreign to them. Simon. -- Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world