I share Nancy's concern here. For M to remain a viable technology choice, it needs to be a "living" language. One reason that languages like Java continue to be viable is that they do not remain frozen in time. Now, to be sure, vendors like Fidelity and InterSystems continue to make innovations, but without the MDC there is no hope of further progress in the language standard, and in that respect, it is undewrstndable why people would consider the language "dead" and be reluctant to adopt it.
>From another point of view, successful lanugages like Java, Python (and even C) do continue to evolve. If all we had was Java 1.1 (or before) how much less attractive would it be as a technology choice? --- Nancy Anthracite <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > The reason given for getting rid of the M version of VistA and why > people may > show reluctance adopt VistA and that vendors of alternative products > give for > the reason people should not adopt VistA is that VistA is written in > "T that > Dead Language, M." The MDC is a vital sign for M. There are > evolutionary > changes that have been recognized as needed, even planned for in the > past, > and not implemented. ( There was a long thread about changes that > were > planned, etc., back when Kevin first started delving into M > programming and > brought up the subject.) There needs to be some updating done to the > ANSI > standard. In my opinion, not having this sign of life is a MAJOR > PROBLEM. > > When there MDC became defunct before, there were apparently a lot of > factors > involved, one of which was money to keep it going. Now there are a > lot of > alternative ways that meetings can be held. WorldVistA meetings are > getting > big enough that probably the occasional face to face meetings that > might be > necessary can be held in conjunction with them. > > Some of the people on the WorldVistA board were active with the MDC, > and they > are stretched pretty thin right now and not able to take up this > cause. There > is a much wider community of M programmers out there that need to be > energized and tapped to get this moving. It isn't just a WorldVistA > problem. > > I am not an M programmer. I am a VistA cheerleader. I feel strongly > that > this is a major problem that needs solving to keep the VistA momentum > going, > not side lined because of something like this that can be remedied. > The > speed and reliability of M has been proven over and over and there is > no > reason that VistA or M should be killed by neglect or that the VA > should > spend whatever countless millions of our tax dollars to migrate VistA > to Java > just because people are running around telling all of the politicians > and > anyone who will listen that "M is dead". An active MDC is proof > positive > that M isn't dead. We need it and the sooner the better. > > Then we need some more college courses in M. This VistA-Office push > may be > the perfect place to do that - couple VistA and M education. But that > is for > another trip to my soapbox! > > On Monday 28 February 2005 08:57 am, Terry wrote: > > > Why? To what end? > > > > Terry L. Wiechmann > > > > > By now everyone is sick of hearing me harp on this, but this > Boston > > > > meeting > > > > > and get together with this active group of M programmers seems to > me the > > > place to try to get the MDC going again. I trust someone has > invited our > > > German friends and British contacts, etc., to the get together. I > have > > > > had no > > > > > response to my email sent to Japan. If anyone has information > about > > > > who I > > > > > should contact at the NEMUG to see if there is and interest among > their > > > membership, or if someone who has the experience and knows > members of > > > > that > > > > > group and could find out who has been invited and if there is any > > > > interest in > > > > > reviving the MDC, I would appreciate hearing from you. > > > -- > > > Nancy Anthracite > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > > > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > > > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real > users. > > > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading > now. > > > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Hardhats-members mailing list > > > [email protected] > > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > > > > Terry L. Wiechmann > > -- > Nancy Anthracite > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide > Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real > users. > Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. > http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=6595&alloc_id=14396&op=click > _______________________________________________ > Hardhats-members mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hardhats-members > ===== A practical man is a man who practices the errors of his forefathers. --Benjamin Disraeli ==== Greg Woodhouse [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest & candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. 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