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From: DEFRANCO@TOPS20.RADC.AF.MIL (Carl DeFranco)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Ada vs C Religious Wars
Message-ID: <12549524966.14.DEFRANCO@TOPS20.RADC.AF.MIL>
Date: 12 Dec 89 15:19:33 GMT
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       Over the past several days, we have been inundated with what are
       fast becoming emotional tirades either for or against Ada as a
       programming language.  Mr. Ted Holden has proclaimed that Ada
       is and always will be an abomination against nature, while
       others take positions either diametrically opposed or at some
       point in between.  To all who have either defended or accepted
       Ada, well done.  Ada, like any other language has its good and
       bad points, and there is evidence that supports the utility of
       Ada, and its density is growing.

       To Mr. Holden and others who seem to enjoy bashing Ada, at
       some point in time, you must face reality: Ada is here, at no
       small expense, and whether you approve of Ada intellectually
       or not, it isn't going away.  The Department of Defense, among
       others, has grown tired of buying software over and over
       again, only to find it difficult or impossible to maintain.
       In sheer desperation, the DoD set out to create a software
       engineering system to overcome those problems, Ada being a
       significant part, but not all of the system that includes
       standards for software development and for quality of same.
       Whether the system works is still being tested, but the
       initial returns say that, yes, the development system is
       owrking, and with Ada, we are actually seeing life cycle cost
       savings.  I am not a programmer per se.  I can write some Ada,
       Fortran, Pascal, and (ugh) BASIC.  I am attempting to learn C.
       COBOL still lives an active life as a senior citizen in the
       real world.  This is reality.

       So, Mr. Holden (and others wishing top attribute this note to
       themselves), please go and live secure in your intellectual
       arrogance that your chosen language is the one true salvation.
       IF you can benefit by undoing all the evils perpetrated on the
       world by Ada, how wonderful for you.  In the meantime, the
       rest of us will slug it out as best we can.

       Carl DeFranco
       RADC/COTD
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