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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,c406e0c4a6eb74ed X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!01cc3b7c!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Richard Riehle" From: "Richard Riehle" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <49dc98cf.0408110556.18ae7df@posting.google.com> Subject: Re: ADA Popularity Discussion Request X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1409 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1409 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 22:41:27 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.218.207 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net 1092350487 66.81.218.207 (Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:41:27 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 15:41:27 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:2702 Date: 2004-08-12T22:41:27+00:00 List-Id: "Chris Humphries" wrote in message news:49dc98cf.0408110556.18ae7df@posting.google.com... > Hello, > > Would like to open up the newsgroup for discussion of why > ADA is not as popular as (of now me learning it) to it is > not as popular as other languages (Perl, Java, C++, C#, C). > There are a lot of reasons. One of my favorites is the one that suggests that it was killed by the compiler publishers. In early Ada 83, this argument goes, the compiler publishers realized that they had a captive audience in the DoD. This led them to charge per-programmer prices for their compilers that were so high that the ordinary programmer could not afford to buy a compiler. On top of that, the larger compiler publishers, while giving lip service to commercial utilization of the language, focused all their sales effort on the DoD -- not even the other branches of government -- just the DoD. Further, machine vendors who had to bid an Ada compiler for the DoD often had no intention of anyone ever actually using their compiler. Tandem, for example, had a "checkbox" compiler, but provided no interfaces to its own operating system, development tools, or anything else in its product line that would make using Ada attractive. They were not alone in this. There were some low-cost compilers, notably Janus and Meridian. While these were pretty good products, they did not quite meet the needs of day-to-day programmers, and most programmers of the early microcomputer era found they could accomplish more with BASIC than they could with the existing Ada compilers and associated toolsets. In general, the Ada compiler publishers never put the kind of energy into creating an attractive environment for commercial Ada as would have been necessary. There were those within those organizations who did strive for that kind of thing. Dr. Brosgol worked very hard to make commercial Ada a reality, but he was pretty much (but not totally) alone much of the time. So, as the compiler publishers found themselves able to charge whatever the traffic would bear, they kept their prices so high that no commercial organization could justify Ada as a choice of languages -- not when so many other tools were so available, including development environments, database interfaces, VDT development tools, etc. This whole picture changed with the advent of GNAT, CLAW, JEWL, and many other good compilers and tools based on the Ada 95 standard. But by that time, Ada had already developed a reputation as cumbersome (not true), too big (not true), and only used by the Department of Defense (most true). Once a language, or any other product, has gotten a bad reputation, it is difficult to overcome it. I know people who will not buy a Jaguar because it is, by reputation, so hard to maintain. Others will not buy a Volkswagen because it is Hitler's car (and the VW van was designed, according to them, to help transport people to the holocaust). One can name countless products that, no matter how they fix themselves, have lost their potential market because of a bad reputation. 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