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=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Received: by 10.107.146.212 with SMTP id u203mr4483058iod.27.1523847720367; Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:02:00 -0700 (PDT) X-Received: by 2002:a9d:3809:: with SMTP id i9-v6mr545250otc.8.1523847720275; Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:02:00 -0700 (PDT) Path: eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.uzoreto.com!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!feeder.usenetexpress.com!feeder-in1.iad1.usenetexpress.com!peer02.iad!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!e130-v6no2061130itb.0!news-out.google.com!u64-v6ni3838itb.0!nntp.google.com!k65-v6no2079029ita.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:02:00 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <1c73f159-eae4-4ae7-a348-03964b007197@googlegroups.com> Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=47.185.233.194; posting-account=zwxLlwoAAAChLBU7oraRzNDnqQYkYbpo NNTP-Posting-Host: 47.185.233.194 References: <1c73f159-eae4-4ae7-a348-03964b007197@googlegroups.com> User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <5e30eddf-5d24-40d5-b1a4-ad3746408bd6@googlegroups.com> Subject: =?UTF-8?Q?How_to_get_Ada_to_=E2=80=9Ccross_the_chasm=E2=80=9D=3F?= From: "Dan'l Miller" Injection-Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2018 03:02:00 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Received-Bytes: 3421 X-Received-Body-CRC: 4175362733 Xref: reader02.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:51535 Date: 2018-04-15T20:02:00-07:00 List-Id: Here is the referent book to which the WWWpage is referring: https://en.wi= kipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm =E2=80=9CAccording to Moore, the marketer should focus on one group of cust= omers at a time, using each group as a base for marketing to the next group= . The most difficult step is making the transition between visionaries (ear= ly adopters) and pragmatists (early majority). This is the chasm that he re= fers to. If a successful firm can create a bandwagon effect in which enough= momentum builds, then the product becomes a de facto standard. However, Mo= ore's theories are only applicable for =E2=80=A2=E2=80=A2disruptive or disc= ontinuous innovations=E2=80=A2=E2=80=A2.=E2=80=9D Is Ada a disruptive leap forward? If Ada95 had occurred while C++ was stil= l in its cfront* era, then hands down, the answer would be a resounding yes= . Ada83 was effectively a mostly-yes, but the main message wasn't so much = a great leap forward in capability (although Grady Booch's HOOD of that era= and Alexander Stepanov's Ada version of what was to become C++'s Standard = Template Library were arguably visions best expressed in Ada83 at the time = due to lack of serious competitors). No, Ada83's public persona was primar= ily the strictness of its semantic rule-set. For those clever enough to s= ee it, those compile-time assurances are a disruptive leap forward, but the= y often were not received as such by the pragmatists on the righthand side = of the chasm. For their marketspaces, SPARK and the Ravenscar Profile are = disruptive leaps forward. There is a chance that Ada2020's provably-correc= t tasking could be a disruptive leap forward, assuming 1) that it is actual= ly (theoretically) achievable and 2) that to accomplish it doesn't incur re= strictions that are too Draconian. * For a decade, C-with-Classes and then renamed C++ had a single reference = implementation: cfront from Bell Labs, which translated CwC early on and C= ++ later on to C language, which was then compiled. What would it take for Ada202X post-Ada2020 to be a disruptive leap-forward= technology as coup de gr=C3=A2ce after Ada2020's provably-correct tasking?