Ada platforms and pricing, was: Re: a new language, designed for safety !

[Simon Clubley <clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP>]

On 2014-06-16, Randy Brukardt <randy@rrsoftware.com> wrote:
> "Luke A. Guest" <laguest@archeia.com> wrote in message 
> news:2100734262424129975.133931laguest-archeia.com@nntp.aioe.org...
>> "J-P. Rosen" <rosen@adalog.fr> wrote:
> ...
>> language. Would you argue
>>> that C is being impaired because Microsoft C is not free?
>>
>> There are many implementations of C, not true of Ada.
>
> Really? I'm sure the Atego people, ICC (Adam's employer), and RRS (me) would 
> be rather surprised to hear that. Not to mention the many Ada 95 
> implementations still available.
>

How many of those compilers can be used to generate code for an ARM
or MIPS processor and how does the pricing compare to the comparable
C compiler ?

The real problem is that Ada isn't a mainstream language these days
(at least for general use) so if you want to attract new people to
it, you can't start charging significant money to people just wanting
to explore the language.

Many of those people wanting to explore the language will be wanting
to explore Ada by using it on embedded platforms so you need a range
of Ada cross compilers available in the same way you have a range of
C cross compilers available for those same people to use.

I know I keep repeating this, but the cold reality is that if the Ada
compiler options available don't match the needs (both in terms of
platforms and pricing) of the people who are potentially interested
in exploring Ada, then it doesn't matter how good Ada is; none of
those people are going to give Ada a go.

I know many of you work in critical environments where paying large
amounts of money for a supported compiler not only makes sense, but
is expected. However, many of the people you are potentially trying
to get interested in using Ada in the future workplace are generally
hobbyists and other people paying for their experiments out of their
own pockets - and those people have several free non-Ada options
available to them for their projects.

These people you are trying to get to use Ada will generally have
very different pricing and platforms needs compared to your critical
workplace projects and, when pushing Ada, you need to think in terms
of their needs, not yours.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world