The trouble with Ada... (60 lines)

[mcsun!uknet!stl!crosfield!pdg@uunet.uu.net (paul goffin)]

The trouble with Ada is that it exposes poor software engineers
and project managers.

Ok.  What do I mean?

I've been in the software engineering business for about 10 years
now.  I've seen, and worked on, some very good software systems.
I've seen, and worked on, some awful ones.

It's been my experience that the difference between a good and
bad software system has a lot to do with the quality of the
software project management.

Most good systems gave a lot of thought to the system design,
and then a lot of management effort was expended to keep
that design on track.  Usually the best method to keep
the project "good" was to make the "good" way the easy way;
that is make it easier for programmers to use "good" practice
than to just "hack and slay".

Most bad systems had almost no thought about design at all,
and even where there was such thought, the project manager
quickly lost control.

Ok, so we all knew all that, and what did I mean about Ada
exposing poor software engineers and managers?

I've found that if you ask someone to do something they can't do
or don't want to do, then instead of telling you they can't do it,
they _pretend_ to be getting on with it.  Most of the time, they
actually aren't pretending (that's what makes it so hard to spot),
they actually are working very hard, and even believe that they are
doing good work.

Thing is what they tend to be doing is coding and testing the "easy
bit" of the job.  In fact they will, given the chance, use all the project
time doing the bit they knew how to do; they won't address the
"difficult bit" at all.

Now when you use 'C' as the coding language, it's very easy
to give the illusion of actually doing useful work, when in
fact all you are doing is tracking down silly coding errors.

In Ada, those coding errors are quickly exposed by the compiler.
Worse, it's actually difficult when using Ada to write any code
at all if you don't have a very good idea about the total
design.  That means you have to address the "difficult bit" first.
(I think that's what Ada was all about!)

So, what happens?  Well, instead of addressing the problem, producing
the design and finally coding (in Ada), the programmers sit around
and look for ways not to use Ada.  As their managers don't see
the real problem, they are soon convinced that it's all Adas fault
and they start looking for waivers.

Paul
-- 
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
+ Paul Goffin +  Crosfield Electronics Ltd. U.K.  +44 442 230000x3357 +
+             +  Opinions expressed are mine! (Yours for a small fee) +
+-------------+-------------------------------------------------------+