Re: More DoD use of everything but Ada

[cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utex as.edu!swrinde!menudo.uh.edu!cl2.cl.uh.edu!swen09d2@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (DUGAN , TIMOTHY R)]

In article <1993Jun17.152105.959@aio.jsc.nasa.gov>, Cobarruvias@asd2.jsc.nasa.g
ov (John Cobarruvias) scrawls...
>>AIR FORCE DRAIR ADVISER
>>   The Air Force at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker
>>Air Force Base has developed the Deficiency Report Analysis Information
>>Report (DRAIR), which tracks problem resolution for aircraft parts in the
>>field.  It aims to standardize the DRAIR, reduce the time it takes to
>>produce a DRAIR, and capture expertise from people knowledgable about
>>specific aircraft.
>>    DRAIR consists of about 7000 lines of C, 1600 lines of Unix shell
>script,
>>520 lines of SQL, 143 lines of Unify's RPT Report Writer Language and 603
>>CLIPS rules.  CLIPS is a NASA expert shell with many benefits.  Use of AI
>>was important to DRAIR.
>>

There is a good point in here somewhere.  Do you remember the book
MegaTrends?  It talked about a trend from either-or choices to 
multiple choices.  As technology evolves and more specialized applications
appear, there will be more choices about how to deal with them.  

The idea that we can accept one language to support a growing number of 
different number of applications is naive.  

Ada has it's place.  Perhaps Ada 9x will expand Ada's role--it provides
multiple choices through annexes.

Why would you program an expert system in Ada?  Of course the tool use do use
could itself be written in Ada--CLIPS has been.