Re: Legislative Mandate for Ada; mindless translations

[eaker@sunbelt.crd.ge.com (Charles E Eaker)]

In article <2467@sparko.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu () writes:
>Is there any consensus on this out there (after all, I'm stuck in the
>Ivory Tower :-))?

Mindless translations are the expected response to mindless mandates,
and mindless mandates appear to be on the rise, especially in
government contracts. So, if code that does the job exists in some
other language, a mindless translator can give you the same algorithms
working in whatever language is mandated for the current project and
save a lot of money. There are enormous incentives to do just that, and
there is no reason to believe that the output of such a translator is
any more or less maintainable than the input.

Actually, some believe that translators can be produced which will
generate code which satisfies coding standards and conventions which
experience has shown to be more readily understood, modifiable, etc.

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Chuck Eaker / P.O. Box 8, K-1 3C12 / Schenectady, NY 12301 USA
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