Re: Dummies, -- was Ada 95 Books for Undergraduate Teaching

Re: Dummies, -- was Ada 95 Books for Undergraduate Teaching

[Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.]

Subject: Re: Dummies, -- was Ada 95 Books for Undergraduate Teaching

Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996

To: Michael Feldman et al.

From: Bob Leif

You wrote
> How's this for a slogan: "Dummies don't _do_ Ada. They do C."

Absolutely not!  As you know better than I do, the central core of Ada is
simpler than C. Our goal should be that computer "Dummies" can use Ada, if
they need to.  This requires engineering systems for normal mortals.  The
real Dummies are those engineers who use substandard technology and produce
applications that intimidate their customers into thinking that they are
dummies.

As far as I know, no other language has a tool equivalent to ASIS.  As I
described in  "Commercializing Ada". ACM Ada Letters 16 pp. 44-45 (1996), it
should be possible to use Ada as a very simple macro language for a
spreadsheet, word-processor or similar application.  The application macro
language system can generate Ada that is executed by a J code system.
Building this type of COTS application has the tremendous advantage that it
will permit the subsequent compilation of the application into a standard
executable file.  There used to be a special product to do this for Lotus 123.

A better slogan.  If you want to build reliable, simple commercial
applications for your customers, use Ada.

Going back to C, I think you meant, "Where wise men fear to tread, fools
march in."  I would agree with the replacement of Dummies by fools in the
sense of the above quotation.

Bob Leif,
Ada_Med