>
> The project I am working on just rejected Ada over C++ because
> they felt that it would be hard to hire programmers that would
> be willing to use Ada.  The bias is there, and I don't really
> know what to do about it.
>
I would love to be able to ask applicants questions something like
these:

If this project was going to be written in Ada, would you still be
interested? Then if the answer is no, ask: Why not? If the applicant
claims no knowledge of Ada, then say training would be provided, would
you still be interested? After the applicant stumbles over this one, you
ask: How is programming in Ada different than programming in C++?
Finally you ask: Shouldn't a good programmer be able to handle these
differences?

The whole purpose would be two-fold. One you identify good programmers
by their answers, and the second is that those who don't get hired will
begin to open their minds to other languages. Unfortunately, many
personnel types won't let you ask "irrelevant" questions.

Daniel McDonough
Operations Research Analyst
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