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: fdb77,5f529c91be2ac930 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 11232c,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,583275b6950bf4e6 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-05-07 15:58:25 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!news.ucsd.edu!not-for-mail From: Dr Chaos Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.object,comp.lang.ada,misc.misc Subject: Re: Using Ada for device drivers? (Was: the Ada mandate, and why it collapsed and died) Followup-To: comp.lang.java.advocacy Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 22:58:23 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Univ of Calif San Diego Message-ID: References: <9fa75d42.0304230424.10612b1a@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0305011727.5eae0222@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0305020516.bdba239@posting.google.com> <82347202.0305021418.4719da45@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0305060521.400f1d80@posting.google.com> <82347202.0305061103.2ddd98e4@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0305070504.6866e7a3@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0305070929.2d7a0d4c@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lyapunov.ucsd.edu X-Trace: news1.ucsd.edu 1052348303 19120 132.239.222.85 (7 May 2003 22:58:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@news1.ucsd.edu NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 22:58:23 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: slrn/0.9.7.4 (Linux) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.java.advocacy:63274 comp.object:62935 comp.lang.ada:37051 misc.misc:14001 Date: 2003-05-07T22:58:23+00:00 List-Id: On 7 May 2003 10:29:10 -0700, soft-eng wrote: > Preben Randhol wrote in message news:... > > >> I don't think the reason for the high usage of C is only a merit of the >> language itself, but also to a great extent the inertia. > > No doubt, but how do you think C became popular in the > first place, overcoming the inertia (that was then) in favor > of Fortran, Cobol, and Pascal? A) C came attached to Unix. The native operating system interface, i.e. the definition of the data structures and the calls and everything wrapped up in the .h files, was, and still is, essentially only defined by parsing and interpreting actual C language syntax and semantics. That was just laziness. By contrast, VMS was explicitly designed to NOT be like this. B) Unix was very open to experimentation and reprogramming by academic groups with hardworking cheap gradstudent and postdoc labor because the source was available. And it came with a C compiler. C) That was because of government regulation of AT&T as opposed to DEC or IBM, which had full control over their own operating systems. D) As a result, TCP/IP became attached to Unix first in the Berkeley System Development laboratories, and TCP/IP hardware was attached to each other nationally because of DARPA government funding. TCP/IP was a Very Very Good Thing. E) Soon, in large part because of C) (not the C programming language), Unix became attached to powerful, but *much* less expensive hardware than its proprietary-OS competitors. This permitted the Stanford University Network startup corporation to license some version of Unix with TCP/IP in it on those really cool Motorola 68000 microprocessors that Andy Bechtolsheim found, giving VAX-like performance at 1/10th the cost. F) The C programming language rode the wave of economics and the intrinsic coolness of the Internet. G) The End. > Inertia explains the continued usage of languages > well past the time that they have become obsolete. > It even explains how 20 years after its trumpet-and-fanfare > inception, people who got hooked into it are still trying > to explain how wonderful Ada is. But it does not > explain how new languages come into popularity. the become popular when they come attached to something else which is really cool. If Unix had been written in Ada, then Ada would be wildly popular today, and software would be significantly less buggy.