Re: Study shows Ada tools ten times more costly

[agate!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.ed u!wupost!csus.edu!netcom.com!netcomsv!butch!rapnet!jcreem@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Jeffrey M. Creem x5700)]

In article <C784HG.5E0@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian)
 writes:
...stuff deleted

>    One comment has some relevance to the issue of the Ada Mandate.  To
>quote (page 99):
>
>	"The cost of software engineering tools ranges from less"
>	than $1 per function point, to more than $20 per function
>	point.  Developers using PC, Unix and Apple Macintosh
>	platforms have the largest selection of tools priced at
>	less than $1 per function point.  Manufacturers and
>	military software developers often use tools priced at
>	more than $10 per function point.
>
>
>    This comment to some extent supports the contention that the Ada
>Mandate, by sheltering the Ada tools companies from competition, is distorting
>the marketplace and making use of Ada more expensive than other languages.
>(I assume in his study that for the most part, military software developers
>only are buying Ada tools).
>
>Greg Aharonian
>

  Unless there is more to that article this paragraph does not seem
to imply that it is only Ada tools that are costing more.  The DoD developers
use lot of tools that are expensive that many people working on their
own (or even in the commercial world) do not always use. These include
word processors with tons of "features" that cost not 10 times but often
100 times more than a PC editor (ie Sun based interleaf editor vs PC MS
word). Configuration managment tools (other than SCCS, RCS types) not to
mention the fact that DoD developers usually end up having to  use tools
that are not as mainstream as 80x86 680X0 compilers (even when they are
C compilers).

  I won't argue that Ada compilers are not too expensive but there are
plenty of other overpriced tools that drive up that ratio.

Jeff Creem
            
The opions expressed are mine and do not reflect the opinion, blah
blah..