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 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,8264dac98bc604d8 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1993-03-16 11:05:55 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Path: sparky!uunet!widget!pole From: pole@evb.com (Tom Pole) Subject: Re: The actual quote from the Post AAS article Message-ID: <1993Mar16.180442.24073@evb.com> Organization: EVB Software Engineering, Inc. References: <1no3fbINN3h7@umbc4.umbc.edu> <1993Mar12.161548.6286@evb.com> <1993Mar13.000402.8785@seas.gwu.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1993 18:04:42 GMT Date: 1993-03-16T18:04:42+00:00 List-Id: In article <1993Mar13.000402.8785@seas.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) writes: >In article <1993Mar12.161548.6286@evb.com> pole@evb.com (Tom Pole) writes: > >[stuff deleted] >> >>The point is that these problems were known to be the major culprits >>in the "software crises" and Ada was supposed to solve them. >> >Ada was to provide a _common language_ for the systems in its problem >domain. In 1973 or thereabouts, there were anywhere from 200-1000 >different languages in use around DoD (I guess nobody knew for sure). >A common language is surely one useful component of a solution to the >"software crisis". Only one. Anyone who said or thought Ada, by itself, would >solve anything but the language Babel, was either a fool or a liar. There >was a lot of Ada hype in the early days; my impression at the time was that >much of the hype was produced by the "training terrorists" of the day. I really like "training terrorists" ! Great term. Of course I don't know of anyone who fits that description. No really !! > >I know of _nobody_ with enough education and honesty to distinguish >between a programming language and methodologies, management smarts, >contracting smarts, etc., who promised that Ada would be a panacea. > Honesty is the operant attribute. I agree completely. Either the person was less than honest, or naively believed someone who was. >Surely nobody believes that of _any_ mere programming language nowadays... Except for most of the 'beginner' engineers you meet who have a favorite language. Any favorite language. > >Mike Feldman -- Thomas Pole