In an interview with Micheal Stonebraker, chief technology officer at
Informix, about the upcoming SQL3 standard, Ada is mentioned very
favorably as a good example of how to go about standardizing a language.


While discussing how standards organizations have changed, Mr.
Stonebraker says:

  "The Defense Department did a great thing when it designed Ada.
  It didn't empower a standards committee to do it.  It hired a
  language expert to design some possibilities, then had a
  bake-off to decide which one it liked."

Later when asked, "Can the products be good if they implement a
language that's not good?", Mr. Stonebraker replies:

  "I was just observing that good languages -- Java and Ada --
  were designed by a couple of very smart people, and you get
  much better results that way."

Just a little tidbit, but as we all know a little can go a long way!
(Too bad he had to slip in Java too ;-)

If your interested in the complete article it can be found in:

  Government Computer News
  February 24, 1997
  "Expect a few tough years until SQL 3 gels"
  (page 18)



---------------------------------------------------------------------
Todd Coniam, Master Sergeant, U.S. Air Force | Member:  Team Ada
[log in to unmask]             | Ada 95 - The World
Any opinions expressed are personal, and not | Standard In Modern OO
those of the U.S.A.F. or U.S. government.    | Programming Languages.
---------------------------------------------------------------------