From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.4 required=5.0 tests=AC_FROM_MANY_DOTS,BAYES_00 autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,103b407e8b68350b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-01-03 06:59:07 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!wn14feed!wn12feed!worldnet.att.net!207.217.77.102!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!harp.news.atl.earthlink.net!not-for-mail From: "Marin David Condic" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Anybody in US using ADA ? One silly idea.. Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 08:23:05 -0500 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Message-ID: References: <3E147D79.2070703@cogeco.ca> <80F453381B124BF8.ACEC58777658C8DC.89DCAA63449DBB7B@lp.airnews.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: d1.56.be.6f X-Server-Date: 3 Jan 2003 13:23:25 GMT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2314.1300 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:32490 Date: 2003-01-03T13:23:25+00:00 List-Id: Problem: Those were big companies and the projects were very long lived where software development was not going to be the cost or schedule driver. How many commercial products are in that position? Your average garage-startup company is never going to be able to let out contracts to get a compiler retargeted and your average small business is never going to be able to wait until the retargeted compiler is ready to use before they can start development. Ada shot itself in the foot early on because it was A) Too expensive, B) Didn't work well and C) Wasn't available for the platforms people were developing on. It pretty much cured those problems by now - but too late to avoid all the damage and missed opportunities. Now it faces new problems and it has to address those if it hopes to avoid the same missed opportunities. MDC -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jast.mil/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "I'd trade it all for just a little more" -- Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10] ====================================================================== John R. Strohm wrote in message news:80F453381B124BF8.ACEC58777658C8DC.89DCAA63449DBB7B@lp.airnews.net... > > In the very early 1980s, General Dynamics / Fort Worth Division started the > F-16C/D program. This was a MAJOR upgrade of the airplane, involving, among > other things, all new computers and all new software. > > Ada wasn't there yet, so they chose JOVIAL J73. > > At that time, there existed precisely one J73 compiler, and it didn't target > EITHER of the processors they were designing into the airplane (Zilog Z8002 > and MIL-STD-1750A). They wound up having to let compiler development > contracts to two (small) companies to develop toolsets. > > At that time, trained J73 programmers just plain didn't exist. GD/FW had to > train every single programmer they hired for that project. > > Every time I hear someone grumbling about the scarcity of trained Ada > programmers, I think about F-16C/D and JOVIAL, and I wonder how GD/FW ever > managed to get that airplane off the ground, if training is so hard. > > I'm not even going to mention HAL/S, the Space Shuttle language, which to my > (unclassified) knowledge was not used for anything else on the planet. > Where does NASA (and the SEI Level 5 contractor) get trained HAL/S > programmers? > > >