Ada was a curious but obviously unsuccessful language back when I first heard about it, and that was at least thirty years ago. Since then, the software industr

Ada was a curious but obviously unsuccessful language back when I first heard about it, and that was at least thirty years ago. Since then, the software industry has exploded, computers have eaten the world, and the internet has made itself more essential than the telephone network ever was; but Ada is nowhere to be found. Whatever its virtues may have been, it has had no significant influence on the culture or practice of computing as we know it today. Yes, of course, there must be some niche somewhere which still contains people who care about Ada, just as there are little pocket communities who still care about MUMPS, APL, and other bits of exotica, or we wouldn't have articles like this one trickling out every few years - but out here where the action is, nobody knows anything about Ada and nobody really cares.