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=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,e7151167e0767ecc X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!news.glorb.com!news.agarik.com!usenet-fr.net!enst.fr!melchior!cuivre.fr.eu.org!melchior.frmug.org!not-for-mail From: Stephen Leake Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Feasibility of using Ada in new development Date: 23 Aug 2004 21:31:55 -0400 Organization: Cuivre, Argent, Or Message-ID: References: <8429999a.0408231027.2850e800@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lovelace.ada-france.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org 1093311144 66793 212.85.156.195 (24 Aug 2004 01:32:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 01:32:24 +0000 (UTC) To: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org Return-Path: In-Reply-To: <8429999a.0408231027.2850e800@posting.google.com> User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Aug 2004 01:32:07.0377 (UTC) FILETIME=[2B01CC10:01C4897A] X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new-20030616-p10 (Debian) at ada-france.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: "Gateway to the comp.lang.ada Usenet newsgroup" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:2947 Date: 2004-08-23T21:31:55-04:00 blaw@mkisserve.com (Robert Law) writes: > I would like to start by saying my message is not an attempt to start > a flame war or anything like that. Ok, good :). > I've been programming for years using everything from COBOL, RPG, C, > Java, PHP, etc. I've written a number of business applications, > usually accounting ones. (That's the advantage of having more than > twenty years of experience.) I don't follow, but ok. > I'm at the point in my life where I want to pursue a dream I've had > for years of having my own software development company, basically a > VAR or ISV. Cool. > I want to use a language that meets the following criteria: > > 1. It must be reliable. Hmm. Usually it's the compiler and run-time that need to be reliable. Perhaps you mean "the language makes it easy to write reliable applications"? > 2. It must be supported. Again, it's the tools that must be supported. > 3. It must be usuable to develop applications in a graphical > environment. Basically Motif, GTK, or KDE. The development environment is graphical, or the target application? I guess you mean the target application. I notice you don't mention MS Windows; is that _not_ a possible target? > 4. It must be usuable to develop programs used via a browser. I'll assume you mean an HTML or "web" browser. The Windows or KDE file window is a "file browser". > 5. It must be able to interface with relational databases either > through a standard interface or ODBC. Hmm. ODBC _is_ a "standard" interface. I think you meant "native interface or ODBC". > 6. It would be nice if it was somewhat object oriented. I'm not an > object oriented purist, but it does have some nice features. I > especially like its automatic garbage collection of no lonter used > variable. "no longer used variable" or "no longer used object that was explicitly allocated on the heap"? Those are two very different things. > I don't care much whether or not there are millions of programmers > that know how to use it. Any programmer worth their salt would be > willing to learn and become proficient in a new language. Right. > I do want it to be a language that is efficient yet doesn't give you > a rope with a noose or a loaded, cocked, gun when you use it. Perhaps you mean "the language makes it easy to write code that is CPU time-efficient (or maybe code space or data space efficient), while still catching common errors". > You can see that I'm leary of C and C++. I have used them, and > continue to use them, but I'm not at all sure that I want to use > them to develop business applicatons. I'm tired of reading about > buffer overflows. Right. > I have played around somewhat with Ada but by no means am I an > expert. I'm concerned that Ada may be starting to fade into > obscurity. Why is that a problem? You said you don't mind if there are not millions of other programmers. Perhaps you are worried about support for tools disappearing? > If I get my company going (I know its a BIG if), I want to use the > language for years and not chase after every silver bullet that > comes along. Right. > I'm interested in your comments and ideas, especially about Ada being > able to meet my requirements. Ada can meet all of these requirements. Contact Ada Core technologies, or any other vendor, and ask for a support quote, and a sales pitch on why they'll still be around in 10 years. See www.adaic.com for a list of vendors, and other useful stuff about Ada. Writing GUI and Web applications in Ada is certainly doable, but will _not_ be as easy as in a .NET or Java language, because of the available libraries of components in those languages. But if you value reliability over time-to-market, and don't mind writing such components from scratch, Ada is a good choice. Ada does not have "automatic garbage collection", but it is often not necessary to use heap objects, and it is easy to write a controlled container that does the garbage collection correctly and efficiently. Such containers are also available, either in Open Source or for purchase. -- -- Stephe