From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: * X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!mintaka!olivea!uunet!europa.asd.contel.com!gatech!udel!haven.umd.edu!uvaarpa!software.org!blakemor From: blakemor@software.org (Alex Blakemore) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: vs Ada - Don't forget the prime directive! Message-ID: <1991Jun19.151041.23487@software.org> Date: 19 Jun 91 15:10:41 GMT References: <9106151802.AA16989@zach.fit.edu> <311@trwacs.UUCP> Organization: Software Productivity Consortium, Herndon, Virginia List-Id: In article <311@trwacs.UUCP> erwin@trwacs.UUCP (Harry Erwin) writes: > Barry Boehm has noted, however, that there are major types > of software that Ada is very poor at implementing (simulations, > parallel processing in open environments, test generation > code, anything involving pointers to functions, anything > that approaches the full generality of a Turing Machine-- > although you can still implement a Turing Machine in Ada-- > most AI applications). I know of several people that write simulators in Ada for Nasa and have done so for years. From what I've seen of their code, Ada has been a natural fit. Why do you think Ada is "very poor" in this area? Because Barry Boehm or anyone else says so is not a vey convincing argument. Can you at least post a reference to this seminal work? My last company developed two successful AI applications in Ada They even made money (natural language translation within a limited domain) I agree Ada doesnt support all the run time flexibility typically used by AI hackers. Ada is not a natural tool for experimenting with AI concepts and algorithms, but once you've chosen a technique data structure or algorithm, you can most likely express it in Ada. The president of a company I used to work for would assert that even AI programs consisted of 80-90% ordinary software (managing files, communication, DBMS, printing whatever) and that the novel "AI" algorithm was only part of a complete application. If this is true, the support for software engineering in Ada could really help in the development of that part of the application. Why is it more difficult to write test generators in Ada than any other language? Of course, you can simulate a Turing machine in Ada and of course the language was designed to discourage arbitrary use gotos, etc. That's good. By the way, (nit picking at semantics) not only is Ada "very poor at implementing" certain systems, Ada CAN'T implement, any type of software. It's only a tool. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Alex Blakemore blakemore@software.org (703) 742-7125 Software Productivity Consortium 2214 Rock Hill Rd, Herndon VA 22070