Re: ADA Popularity Discussion Request

["Richard Riehle" <adaworks@earthlink.net>]

"Ed Falis" <falis@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:opscm64kqg5afhvo@localhost...
> On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:41:27 GMT, Richard  Riehle <adaworks@earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Are the Ada 83 compiler publishers partly to blame because
> > of their greed or shortsightedness?    Well, maybe not entirely,
> > but there are those in our community who do see it that way.
> >
> > Richard Riehle
>
> After putting 16 years of my life into working for one of those Ada 83
> (and 95) compiler publishers, and constantly striving to put good value
> products on the street, making zero profit year after year, I have to say
> I resent these remarks.
>
Sorry for posting such a derisive screed, Ed.

To quote Laura Huxley (I know you will understand this better than
some others who might read it), "You are not the target."   The people
at Alsys that I know were among those who fought for wider accpetance
of Ada in the commercial community.  There are others including Randy
over at RR, and some of the folks at Meridian.

> There are plenty of other "members of the community" at whom fingers could
> be pointed.  But I'll refrain because it won't change a thing.
>
I mentioned in my earlier post the "checkbox" compilers.  These were among
the worst of the Ada offerings.   In most cases, the vendor had no
expectations
that anyone would use Ada on their computer.  The compiler was created only
to satisfy the checkbox on an RFQ where it said, "Validated Ada."

As far as the DoD was concerned, Validated Ada meant that there was a
minimal
implementation of Ada for a vendors computer.   The fact that there were no
tools relating to that computer's operating system, no development
environments,
no way to access the database, and no committment to Ada within the
organization, was indication enough that the vendor was not serious about
Ada.  At least one vendor's VP confided to me around 1989 that, for them,
Ada was a "checkbox" compiler.   If you wanted to create real programs, you
needed to use one of their supported languages, one that supported their
proprietary OS.  That company no longer makes computers.  They have
been acquired.

This was not uncommon in those times.   Most of us had the experience of
being confronted with a compiler environment that satisfied the checkbox,
but did not have all the tools necessary to create programs easily for the
targeted platform.

There is a line from "Who Killed Roger Rabbit," where the cartoon character
named Jessica says, "I'm not really bad.  I'm just drawn that way."  One can
imagine Ada saying something such as, "I'm not really bad.  I've just been
implemented that way."

In the end, all of us involved in promoting Ada made our mistakes, myself
included.   In my current role, that of a professor of computer science, I
hope I am doing better.  My students seem to come away from my Ada
classes with a good feeling about it.   Still, I encounter people from the
DoD,
industry, and elsewhere who say to me, "I thought the DoD now forbids the
use of Ada."   Somehow, the correct message is still not getting out.

Richard Riehle