[bluGill]

The people who did contracts are aware of ada/spark and some have experience using it. Only time will tell if it works in c++ but they at least did all they could to give it a chance.

Note that this is not the end of contrats. This is a minimun viable start that they intend to add to but the missing parts are more complex.

[dislikedopinion]

Might be the case that Ada folks successfully got a bad version of contracts not amenable for compile-time checking into C++, to undermine the competition. Time might tell.

[stackghost]

I strongly doubt that C++ is what's standing in the way of Ada being popular.

[dislikedopinion]

Ada used to be mandated in the US defense industry, but lots of developers and companies preferred C++ and other languages, and for a variety of reasons, the mandate ended, and Ada faded from the spotlight.

[stackghost]

>the mandate ended, and Ada faded from the spotlight

Exactly. People stopped using Ada as soon as they were no longer forced to use it.

In other words on its own merits people don't choose it.

[hansvm]

On their own merits, people choose SMS-based 2FA, "2FA" which lets you into an account without a password, perf-critical CLI tools written in Python, externalizing the cost of hacks to random people who aren't even your own customers, eating an extra 100 calories per day, and a whole host of other problematic behaviors.

Maybe Ada's bad, but programmer preference isn't a strong enough argument. It's just as likely that newer software is buggier and more unsafe or that this otherwise isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.

[stackghost]

I made no judgement about whether Ada is subjectively "bad" or not. I used it for a single side project many years ago, and didn't like it.

But my anecdotal experience aside, it is plain to see that developers had the opportunity to continue with Ada and largely did not once they were no longer required to use it.

So, it is exceedingly unlikely that some conspiracy against C++, motivated by mustache-twirling Ada gurus, is afoot. And even if that were true, knocking C++ down several pegs will not make people go back to Ada.

C#, Rust, and Go all exist and are all immensely more popular than Ada. If there were to be a sudden exodus of C++ developers, these languages would likely be the main beneficiaries.

My original point, that C++ isn't what's standing in the way of Ada being popular, still stands.

[mastermage]

Ada is a greatly designed language and I mean this. The problem Ada has is highly proprietary compilers.

[uecker]

Not having experience myself, how is GNAT?

[steveklabnik]

This is some pretty major conspiracy thinking, and would need some serious evidence. Do you have any?