Re: If GCC dropped Ada suport, how long would you use an old version for?

[Stephen Leake <stephen_leake@stephe-leake.org>]

Pat Van Canada <google@spellingbeewinnars.org> writes:

> We all know that Ada has declined since the 1980s 

I don't; what is your evidence?

AdaCore appears to be growing. I get more trouble tickets for Emacs
ada-mode than I used to.

> However, let's just say the GCC project dropped support, aliens
> abducted all of the Adacore staff and you did not feel you would be
> able to patch GCC yourself, how long would you use an old GCC version
> that had Ada support?

You could pose the same improbable "what if" for any other language.

My answer; as long as it still works for my current projects.

A similar example; I was using monotone for a long time, because it is a
better structured version control system (particularly for managing
merge conflicts). I'm now using git, because monotone finally failed to
build on a Debian system.

> I ask this because my son is 15 and my daughter is 11 and I am
> wondering about a project for them that would need to be viable for a
> long time.

Ada is a better language because it encourages good programming style.
Even if they go on to use other languages, learning Ada first will make
them better programmers.

If we are allowed to consider the available commercial support, AdaCore
provided _much_ better support than the other compiler/OS companies I
dealt with when I worked for NASA (several years ago now; I hope their
quality is still high). And they have a college support program; do
other compiler companies have such things (seems like they should)?

AdaCore serves a niche market compared to RedHat or Oracle, but that
market is essential, growing, and will be around for the foreseeable
future. So I would bet on AdaCore and Ada.

-- 
-- Stephe