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Date: 14 Dec 92 05:07:24 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!mfeldman@uunet.uu.net  (Michael Feldman)
Subject: Re: Cooked cost-effectiveness
Message-ID: <1992Dec14.050724.13580@seas.gwu.edu>
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

In article <SRCTRAN.92Dec13224133@world.std.com> srctran@world.std.com (Gregory
 Aharonian) writes:

[lots of good stuff deleted about the paucity of good models for assessing
cost-effectiveness deleted]
>
>This is not to say that I don't believe that for some projects, Ada is
>very cost effective.  I have seen a few private sector projects use Ada
>very cost effectively.  Rather, I do not think anyone will be able to
>specifically prove that the Ada mandate is cost effective.  Not that
>anyone cares, especially when you have outrageous claims like the original
>STARS claim to increase productivity ten-fold.   Any goal far enough in
>the future, backed by a few uniforms, will be funded by Congress in under
>a few tens of millions.  None of the originals will be around on judgment
>day.
>
Right. Which is why the service policies (e.g. Currie Colket's summary
the other day of the Navy one) simply state a _presumption_ of Ada cost-
effectiveness. The burden is on the nay-sayer to persuade the relevant
waiver-writer that a waiver is needed. Quite appropriate IMHO. This
could also have been done by simple DoD fiat, without Congress' help.

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman
co-chair, SIGAda Education Committee

Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
School of Engineering and Applied Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052 USA
(202) 994-5253 (voice)
(202) 994-5296 (fax)
mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Internet)

"Americans want the fruits of patience -- and they want them now."
------------------------------------------------------------------------