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-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5cb36983754f64da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-04-21 06:20:43 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!newsfeed.mathworks.com!nnx.oleane.net!oleane!freenix!enst.fr!melchior!cuivre.fr.eu.org!melchior.frmug.org!not-for-mail From: Marius Amado Alves Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: No call for Ada (was Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language) Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 14:38:54 +0100 Organization: Cuivre, Argent, Or Message-ID: References: Reply-To: amado.alves@netcabo.pt NNTP-Posting-Host: lovelace.ada-france.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org 1082553547 88535 212.85.156.195 (21 Apr 2004 13:19:07 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@melchior.cuivre.fr.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 13:19:07 +0000 (UTC) To: comp.lang.ada@ada-france.org Return-Path: User-Agent: KMail/1.4.3 In-Reply-To: X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new-20030616-p7 (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: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:7380 Date: 2004-04-21T14:38:54+01:00 On Wednesday 21 April 2004 12:50, Preben Randhol wrote: > On 2004-04-21, Marius Amado Alves wrote: > > My wife had a nasty experience with our Citroen Xsara Picasso. Doing = a > > curve she turned the driving wheel but the damn machine didn't respon= d > > until the last split second before hitting the road side barrier (she > > didn't hit). Maybe the driving wheel is sending emails! We're still > > driving the same car thou. Maybe we should know better and change. Bu= t to > > what? Is there an 100% Ada car out there? > > Isn't the steering mechanical? The steering wheel, the interface, is a normal steering wheel, but that m= ay be=20 an atavism from the old days when everything was mechanical i.e. I don't = know=20 if the communication to the real wheels is mechanical. I know it is=20 "assisted" i.e. there is some kind (mechanical, possibly hidraulical) of=20 augmentation of the human driver's force--a standard feature in all moder= n=20 cars. (Personally I'd prefer a joystick or a touch screen or something like tha= t if=20 the communication is not mechanical, but that's a clever innovation and t= hus=20 it's going to take a long time to happen because stupid innovations are f= irst=20 and the designers and perhaps the market seem to like stupid atavisms. Li= ke=20 the driving wheel, also the current form of the gear, accelerator, and br= eak=20 controls are atavisms. And windows, radio, etc. A rational modern car wou= ld=20 have *all* controls on a touch screen in front of the driver. Ok, maybe l= eave=20 something for the feet, to free your hands a little. Incidently, at least in Portugal it is very hard to find an automatic gea= r=20 model. People seem to like exercizing their left leg to exaustion and hav= ing=20 their rigth hand occupied all time during traffic jams.)