Re: Ada

[tsikes@netcom.com (Terry Sikes)]

In article <84sudm$33s$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
Robert Dewar  <robert_dewar@my-deja.com> wrote:
>In article <84rd2f$snm$1@nntp3.atl.mindspring.net>,
>  tsikes@netcom.com (Terry Sikes) wrote:
>> For one look at "per language" programmer demand, see
>> www.lmarkets.com, which seems to show both C++ and Java
>considerably
>> ahead of VB (of course this is programmer demand, not
>programmer body
>> count).
>
>Nope, this is does not reflect programmer demand. It simply
>reflects the number of jobs that are being offered in this
>particular forum. Even if it did reflect programmer demand,
>that would say nothing about the supply (ads tend to reflect
>the surplus of demand over supply, which has nothing to do
>with total market).

You're right about the site reflecting surplus of demand over supply.
However, I find it hard to understand how the demand for VB
programmers is being filled, given that VB programming isn't in the
curriculum of most universities (also I know a couple of VB
consultants who're making good money, which doesn't indicate excessive
supply).

I'm going to contact Ted Shieh for more details about his methodology,
I thought there was more on the site, but couldn't find it.

>There are many sources for this information. One for example,
>was a keynote address from Bill Gates at a big conference
>(perhaps Comdex?) last year. There he also stated that Delphi
>was at 5%, and Java at 9% (he said he did not really believe
>the Java figure, that it probably reflected a lot of
>experimentation, and given the failure of Java to get a
>real foothold in client side programming that sounds right
>to me. This same talk put Visual basic at about 50% of
>PC development, and that also sounds about right to me,
>with C/C++ being about 15%.

50% of Windows (not PC) development, even if true, ignores major
market segments:

o  embedded systems
o  Unix/mainframe server-side  (this has picked up recently;)
o  Mac
o  Linux

I think you're underestimating the amount of C/C++ even on the Windows
side, also.  Bill has some level of vested interest in promoting VB,
after all.

>Ada did not get mentioned, but even if it was at what
>(for me) would seem a very high level of 1% of all PC
>development, it would have been under Bill's radar screen :-)

Probably.

>To get a feel for the Visual Basic market, have a look at the
>catalogs of Active-X (now COM) components. Yes, these components
>can be used in Visual C++ (and for that matter in Ada programs
>written with GNAT :-) but the primary use of these components
>is in the visual basic world.

As you say, they are compiler-neutral.  I think that the Windows
component marketplace has been VBs biggest success...  :-)   Linux
would benefit from a similar feature - or if Java ever gets efficient
enough, Java Beans are an alternative.

Terry
--
tsikes@netcom.com