Re: A proposal for Tri-Ada '94

[azimmer@rsa.hisd.harris.com (Alan D Zimmerman, Loral RSA)]

In article IIv@world.std.com, srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian) writes:
>    Step one is to contact the people at DTIC, who maintain databases of
> every open DOD contract and final reports from all closed DoD reports.  It
> would be quite simple to have DISA prepare a list of all open software
> projects, which include a brief abstract and the telephone number of the
> project manager.   I don't know how big such a list is (I assume very big
> given the tens of billions the DoD spends on software procurement), but I
> do know that DTIC maintains this information in databases that are very
> straightforward to query.
>     Step one should take one day.

Yes, but it would not be complete.  What about Government Contracts that do not
produce final reports to DTIC.  A single example of this is the Range Technical
Services Contract with the Air Forces Eastern Range.  Ada development is being
performed there, but as far as I know, no information goes to DTIC.  Also,
since this is not a "software" contract, it would be missed.

[Rest deleted]
In order for this to be technically complete, you would have to get a list of
every government contract since the Ada mandate went into effect, contact
the developer, ask if any software was developed, was it new development or
strickly a modification to existing software, what the target environment was,
determine what the program's requirements were, determine if Ada compilers were
available for the target environment that would meet the program requirements,
and so on.  I am sure I have missed a few steps here, but I believe that Greg
has oversimplified the scenario.

What would this prove.  Every year, I see states publishing statistics on
how many people are violating the seat belt law.  Does this help in
getting people to wear their seat belts?  Even if Tri-Ada could put a
giant 100% would that help the wide spread use of Ada?  No, what we need
is cheap Ada compilers that Universities can use to teach new Computer Scientists
and Software Engineers about Ada and its advantages.  I think as
GNAT becomes more robust and colleges start using Ada as their teaching 
language, the use of Ada will increase.  

Alan Zimmerman
Software Engineer
Loral Space & Range Systems
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