pattis@cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) (01/04/91)
Many schools are beginning to look beyond Pascal and C as their language of instruction. Many successful authors are looking beyond Pascal and C for writing introductory, intermediate, and advanced Computer Science and Engineering textbooks. The two main contenders (leaving out the "odder" languages of Scheme, ML, and Smalltalk) seem to be Ada and C++. I don't want to start any discussion of the merits of these two languages, or of the quality of various language implementations. But I would like to illustrate some pricing strategies that make C++ very attractive to Universities (and hence authors who want to write books). I was quoted these prices today (1/3/91) on the phone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vendor: Borland (408) 438-5300 (contact customer support) Product Name Retail Education C++ 200 70 Professional 300 140 Small Model (Ed only) 40 (64K data/64K code) C++ Lab pack 10 C++, 1 Doc: $350 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vendor: Zortech C++ (800) 848-8408 Retail Education Compiler 200 75 Developer 450 200 Compiler pack 10 Compiler, 1 Doc 300 (+30/doc extra; up to 9 more) Developer pack 10 Developer, 1 Doc 700 (+60/doc extra; up to 9 more) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ae@sei.cmu.edu (Arthur Evans) (01/04/91)
If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support. Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600. I was previously employed at Tartan and have left. While at Tartan I made heavy use of the Sun product and liked it very much; I have little experience on VMS. Art Evans Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University My opinions are not necessarily those of my employer.
pattis@cs.washington.edu (Richard Pattis) (01/04/91)
In article <9852@as0c.sei.cmu.edu>, ae@sei.cmu.edu (Arthur Evans) writes: > If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all > means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada > compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support. > Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600. > Art should have written, "They *CHARGE* for support." I think that Tartan has taken a step in the right direction, but it still costs about $1K-$4K to *USE* their compiler (at least last time I checked, right after their announcement). I have recently written to an SEI group involved in kickstarting Ada in education, suggesting that someone (compiler vendors, DoD, etc) subsidize compiler use in education by allowing schools with a genuine interest to use an Ada compiler, absolutely *FREE OF CHARGES*, for a year. Rich Pattis
reid@CTC.CONTEL.COM (Tom Reid x4505) (01/05/91)
Unfortunately, I have to agree with Richard Pattis. I have wanted to use Ada for a translator construction course that I teach. The university does not use Ada in any of its classes now and I am off-campus so the site license route is out. I need a mechanism that I can inform the vendor the students in the course so that they can order directly or I have to be distributor and collect from the students. Needless to say, I prefer the first. The price is another thing. After requiring a text book, I still need a language tutorial book and the compiler. We are starting to look at real money. Last year, I was able to have the students buy the Jensen and Partners, Inc. Modula-2 student pak for $50. It included a nice tutorial. I faxed my student role to JPI so they knew who was legit. This method kept the student cost to under $100 (barely) and I thought that was acceptable. I have also used shareware compilers. The Ada vendors I approached were not as accommodating. Part of this might be that JPI seriously targets college campuses whereas I do not see the Ada vendors doing that. I would love to see an Ada vendor take an agressive marketing fling at colleges and I would reward then by trying to make Ada a serious part of the curriculum. Thomas F. Reid, Ph. D. (703)818-4505 (work) Contel Technology Center (703)742-8720 (home) 15000 Conference Center Drive Net: reid@ctc.contel.com P.O. Box 10814 Chantilly, Va. 22021-3808
weyrich (Dr. Orville R. Weyrich) (01/07/91)
In article <9101042209.AA02201@ctc.contel.com> reid@CTC.CONTEL.COM (Tom Reid x4505) writes: > >The Ada vendors I approached were not as accommodating. Part of this >might be that JPI seriously targets college campuses whereas I do not >see the Ada vendors doing that. I would love to see an Ada vendor take >an agressive marketing fling at colleges and I would reward then by >trying to make Ada a serious part of the curriculum. > I think that Meridian Ada has a package that is agressively targeted at college campuses.
yow@magic.Berkeley.EDU (Billy Yow 283-4009) (01/07/91)
Did you check with Merdian. They have a version of their compiler called Ada Student that was only 50.00 dollars last year. The compiler has some limitations so that could be a problem. Also there newest compiler the AdaZ product has a Hypertext version of the LRM which is very nice. The compiler is selling for $149.00 (To go up to $495.00), I don't know if they are offering any educational discounts or not. I am using their professional version to develop an application of 25,000 lines and have also used it with the STARS X-Bidding and DESQview/X. Bill Yow The yow@magic.Berkeley.EDU is a lie.
erickson@TAURUS.CS.NPS.NAVY.MIL (David Erickson) (01/08/91)
In article <9852@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> ae@sei.cmu.edu (Arthur Evans) writes: >If you are a college or university looking for an Ada compiler, by all >means talk with the folks at Tartan. They are giving away, *FREE*, Ada >compilers for VAX/VMS and Sun-3 running Unix. They charge for support. >Call Susan Englert for details, at 412-856-3600. >Art Evans Actually, this is just a marketing ploy - the support is required, for a minimum of three years. For example, a site license would cost $5,000 per year, or $15,000. Support is also available on a cpu/server basis (individual cpu cost is $500/yr, individual server cost is $2500/yr). -Dave Erickson