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: 2003-03-01 10:20:02 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn13feed!worldnet.att.net!204.127.198.203!attbi_feed3!attbi.com!rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net.POSTED!not-for-mail From: tmoran@acm.org Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Container libraries References: X-Newsreader: Tom's custom newsreader Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 12.234.13.56 X-Complaints-To: abuse@attbi.com X-Trace: rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net 1046542802 12.234.13.56 (Sat, 01 Mar 2003 18:20:02 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 18:20:02 GMT Organization: AT&T Broadband Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 18:20:02 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:34777 Date: 2003-03-01T18:20:02+00:00 List-Id: > Certainly free markets and lots of choices are the way to go. The better > products end up floating to the top and people have specialized choices for > specialized needs. That said, I'd still think there would be a big advantage > to having some basic containers as a conventional part of Ada - especially > for students. It makes it much easier to point them at an answer and if it > is just there with the compiler, they just use it and presume it *is* part > of the language. Unfortunately, as this points out in yet another way, the classic Adam Smith free market works very poorly for software. The cost of a piece of software to a user is mostly not $, but information costs of trying to find out what's available, how well it does what the user wants, and what might it do that the user doesn't want. Something like a brand name or Official Ada Annex validation is really needed to cheaply and reliably tell the user "this is a good thing". How to get the creator of container package A to agree that container package B should be the "standard", I don't know.