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But does it have awesome rockstar ninja tech like Node.js? I mean, if I don't have my event loops (event loops are web-scale, you see) and MangoDB ORM/ODM/obje

But does it have awesome rockstar ninja tech like Node.js? I mean, if I don't have my event loops (event loops are web-scale, you see) and MangoDB ORM/ODM/object-state-propagator I can't be productive. (Gotta slam code for my startup!) Also I heard Ada's type system was responsible for blowing up that Ariane V rocket. Clearly ninja-tech like JavaScript's weak/dynamic type system wouldn't have caused that.

jacques_chester 14y ago
Sarcasm on HN is a subtle art, fellow snarkonaut :D Too much and your posts turn grey. Too little and your comments won't be upvoted to the top.
- codewright 14y ago
  Price one pays to be the Diogenes of code.
- Uchikoma 14y ago
  From my experience: Too much == (sarcasm > 0)
Avshalom 14y ago
I swear that every other code article on HN makes me want to learn Ada out of spite. I just wish there was a more visible community of libraries it's hard to get into a language when you have to start at writing a CS 10* level of software due to lack of libraries for higher level/more interesting projects.
- sveiss 14y ago
  I used it for uni for our intro to data structure/algorithms course, and later on for a real time control systems course. In both cases it was a good fit and the language was fairly pleasant to use, if a bit verbose and pedantic to my Ruby-and-Perl-accustomed brain. It's certainly worth playing with.
  - Avshalom 14y ago
    I've got about 1-2 thousand lines of code lying about in tiny programs I've written playing with it, and I did enjoy it. I just never seem to have a size-able problem that's a good fit contemporaneous with the itch to learn it. So a subleq virtual machine here, a markov chain there, but I've never managed to really sink my teeth in.
olaf 14y ago
> Also I heard Ada's type system was responsible for blowing up that Ariane V rocket. Please post proved facts, not wrong, misleading "I heard" FUD.
- jacques_chester 14y ago
  That's the joke.
- epidemian 14y ago
  Perhaps this can help: http://youtu.be/bzkRVzciAZg http://youtu.be/bzkRVzciAZg (Unless you were being double-sarcastic, in which case this post is a fail)
- glassx 14y ago
  Here's where I first read about it. http://archive.eiffel.com/doc/manuals/technology/contract/ariane/ http://archive.eiffel.com/doc/manuals/technology/contract/ar... EDIT: there's a reference link but I can't open it on my phone.
jordanb 14y ago
> Also I heard Ada's type system was responsible for blowing up that Ariane V rocket. Clearly ninja-tech like JavaScript's weak/dynamic type system wouldn't have caused that. Funny joke. It's worth knowing what really happened to the Ariane 5 though. There used to be some great discussions of it on Usenet but it seems like maybe Google has lost them. Here are the cliff's notes as I remember them: * The root cause of the disaster was a management decision to re-use the Ariane 4 navigation system without any testing for the new rocket, on the grounds that testing is expensive and time-consuming. * The Ariane 4 was a slower rocket than the Ariane 5 so numbers with respect to speed and acceleration were smaller. * During launch, there was an integer overflow in a system that was only needed prior to launch and continued running through the launch for no reason. I believe it was code to do INS synchronization. The integer overflow couldn't happen on an Ariane 4 due to slower velocities. * While that system wasn't necessary for launch, the overflow caused an Ada exception to be raised, which was uncaught and caused the whole navigation system to terminate. * Once the range safety system (also written in Ada) recognized that the rocket was out of control it automatically terminated the launch to protect those on the ground. MISRA C people immediately leaped on the disaster claiming that "Ada caused it," on the grounds that C code would have silently ignored the error. Ada's exceptions are similar to those in most modern languages and the "exception wars" have now pretty much been won by the pro-exception people, so the whole argument is pretty archaic. Of course MISRA C and C++ are slowly beating Ada in the market even though they're an inferior fit for purpose because of the perception that the ecosystem is healthier. I've also heard that the integer overflow was actually caught by the hardware itself, which generated a signal that the Ada runtime turned into a native exception. So had it been C code it wouldn't have silently ignored the problem, it would have terminated due to an uncaught signal.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

jacques_chester 14y ago

Sarcasm on HN is a subtle art, fellow snarkonaut :D Too much and your posts turn grey. Too little and your comments won't be upvoted to the top.

codewright 14y ago
Price one pays to be the Diogenes of code.
Uchikoma 14y ago
From my experience: Too much == (sarcasm > 0)

Avshalom 14y ago

I swear that every other code article on HN makes me want to learn Ada out of spite. I just wish there was a more visible community of libraries it's hard to get into a language when you have to start at writing a CS 10* level of software due to lack of libraries for higher level/more interesting projects.

sveiss 14y ago
I used it for uni for our intro to data structure/algorithms course, and later on for a real time control systems course. In both cases it was a good fit and the language was fairly pleasant to use, if a bit verbose and pedantic to my Ruby-and-Perl-accustomed brain. It's certainly worth playing with.
- Avshalom 14y ago
  I've got about 1-2 thousand lines of code lying about in tiny programs I've written playing with it, and I did enjoy it. I just never seem to have a size-able problem that's a good fit contemporaneous with the itch to learn it. So a subleq virtual machine here, a markov chain there, but I've never managed to really sink my teeth in.

olaf 14y ago

> Also I heard Ada's type system was responsible for blowing up that Ariane V rocket. Please post proved facts, not wrong, misleading "I heard" FUD.

jacques_chester 14y ago
That's the joke.
epidemian 14y ago
Perhaps this can help: http://youtu.be/bzkRVzciAZg http://youtu.be/bzkRVzciAZg (Unless you were being double-sarcastic, in which case this post is a fail)
glassx 14y ago
Here's where I first read about it. http://archive.eiffel.com/doc/manuals/technology/contract/ariane/ http://archive.eiffel.com/doc/manuals/technology/contract/ar... EDIT: there's a reference link but I can't open it on my phone.

jordanb 14y ago

> Also I heard Ada's type system was responsible for blowing up that Ariane V rocket. Clearly ninja-tech like JavaScript's weak/dynamic type system wouldn't have caused that. Funny joke. It's worth knowing what really happened to the Ariane 5 though. There used to be some great discussions of it on Usenet but it seems like maybe Google has lost them. Here are the cliff's notes as I remember them: * The root cause of the disaster was a management decision to re-use the Ariane 4 navigation system without any testing for the new rocket, on the grounds that testing is expensive and time-consuming. * The Ariane 4 was a slower rocket than the Ariane 5 so numbers with respect to speed and acceleration were smaller. * During launch, there was an integer overflow in a system that was only needed prior to launch and continued running through the launch for no reason. I believe it was code to do INS synchronization. The integer overflow couldn't happen on an Ariane 4 due to slower velocities. * While that system wasn't necessary for launch, the overflow caused an Ada exception to be raised, which was uncaught and caused the whole navigation system to terminate. * Once the range safety system (also written in Ada) recognized that the rocket was out of control it automatically terminated the launch to protect those on the ground. MISRA C people immediately leaped on the disaster claiming that "Ada caused it," on the grounds that C code would have silently ignored the error. Ada's exceptions are similar to those in most modern languages and the "exception wars" have now pretty much been won by the pro-exception people, so the whole argument is pretty archaic. Of course MISRA C and C++ are slowly beating Ada in the market even though they're an inferior fit for purpose because of the perception that the ecosystem is healthier. I've also heard that the integer overflow was actually caught by the hardware itself, which generated a signal that the Ada runtime turned into a native exception. So had it been C code it wouldn't have silently ignored the problem, it would have terminated due to an uncaught signal.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]