Re: Ada in Iraq

["John R. Strohm" <strohm@airmail.net>]

"Hyman Rosen" <hyrosen@mail.com> wrote in message
news:1051303356.875377@master.nyc.kbcfp.com...
> John R. Strohm wrote:
> > THANK YOU for this admission of ignorance.
> >
> > I now know that I can safely ignore any and everything you say about
Ada,
> > knowing that you have previously admitted to having no actual knowledge.
>
> Umm, yeah, whatever. I'm actually on the OP's side.
> I wish he would be able to get Ada used on his project.
> But from what he says, they embarked on a C++ project
> without having staff who knew C++ well enough to use it,
> are are still having fallout from that. I expect that
> with that attitude, they would suffer the same problems
> using Ada, because they would try to build an Ada project
> using staff who didn't know Ada well enough.

There are three key components of project success: competent management,
competent staff, and competent training.  It is really VERY difficult to
have a project failure if all three of these things are present.  Read
Robert Glass's classic book, "The Universal Elixir and Other Computing
Projects Which Failed".

> Or is it your contention that even people who don't know
> Ada can build a large successful project with it? If so,
> I'll start right away!

The brake subcontractor for the Boeing 777 did exactly that.  They started
behind the power curve, with no previous Ada experience.  They were already
well underway with their C implementation, figuring Boeing would give them a
waiver.  Instead, Boeing explained to them that they would either do the
project in Ada or Boeing would hire someone else who would.  They came in on
schedule, under budget, and thoroughly convinced that they'd been seriously
wrong in their opposition to Ada.

So, how soon are you going to start your Ada project?