> I periodically receive a publication titled "Programmer's
> Paradise in my mailbox.  Turning the language section, I
> see C, C++, COBOL, Fortran, Pascal, Java, etc.  No Ada
> anywhere.
>
> I am sometimes tempted to list GNAT Ada for $30.00 a copy, the cost of
> advertising, mailing, copying and packaging just so Ada will
> be listed.  It would be too much trouble for me to do that, but
> someone ought to list their Ada compiler there.

We (RR Software) periodically sell products through Programmer's Paradise.
As I understand it, they list what sells. (Duh!) The only way to get a
listing otherwise is to buy it, by buying advertising in their catalog.
(Yes, they actually sell those ads you see in those catalogs.) This cost (a
couple of years back) around $2K per issue. We tried it for a while, but the
return never made it a money-making proposition.

I fear that the only way that Ada will ever get used much in the mainstream
is if someone with deep pockets decides to promote it heavily (a la Sun and
Java). Certainly there exist plenty of Ada products that would fit in a
Programmer's Paradise catalog, but there has to be someone buying them
through that catalog before they'll appear there. I think that only a
concerted publicity/marketing effort for $$$$ would have an effect here.
Certainly RR won't be doing this unless I win the lottery; I don't think any
of the Ada companies (with the possible exception of Rational) could even
afford to think about doing it.

                                Randy Brukardt
                                R.R. Software.

P.S. Buy enough copies of Claw, and I will reconsider the above.  :-)