Re: Ada is not a failure.

[agate!dog.ee.lbl.gov!hellgate.utah.edu!peruvian.cs.utah.edu!matwood@ucbva x.Berkeley.EDU (Mark Atwood)]

In article <CAq1Ir.223@world.std.com> tne@world.std.com (Thomas N Erickson)
writes:
> ...
>Improvements are needed, so Ada9X is an evolution of the language to meet
>today's market demands.  Alsys recently performed a survey of 100 of our
>North American customers.  92% responded that they would be using 9X
>capabilities by the end of 95 if they were available.  Alsys plans to make
>them available even sooner.

How many of the capabilities?  You can avoid the "difficult" annexes and still
call it 9X.

>Although the growth of Ada outside of mission critical applications is
>next to zero (which is logical considering Ada's original design
>criteria),

No it isn't.  It's next to zero because people who havn't used the language
and been converted by it's advantages have 1) never been encouraged to
buy it, 2) have never seen it marketed outside of the DoD community,
3) and have been sticker shocked by the price.

True, your LEAP program makes a stab at it, but it took an Ada vendor too
long to realize what nearly every other software vendor knows, the schools
are what will sell you.  (And don't tell me about "finantial realities".
Once you have the thing developed, it's next to free to copy and distribute
it.)

>...
>It is true that we vendors need to better promote our successes.  Alsys,
>as one of the vendor community is beginning to do this now, within the
>realms of fiscal reality.  We also are cooperating with the Ada Software
>Alliance and AJPO in efforts to increase the visibility of Ada in ways not
>previously tried.

Are you going to OOPSLA?

>...

>Tom Erickson
>Group Vice-President, Marketing
>Alsys

Oh, and when will there be an alsys.com ?

-- 
Mark Atwood                  | My school and employer have too many problems
matwood@peruvian.cs.utah.edu | without being blamed for mine.