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=-0.8 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,a8985ede8fe3d111 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1994-10-03 02:55:36 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Path: bga.com!news.sprintlink.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.uwa.edu.au!DIALix!sydney!andrewl From: andrewl@sydney.DIALix.oz.au (Andrew Lees) Subject: Re: Is Ada the future? [was: Is C++ the future?] Organization: DIALix Services, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Date: Mon, 03 Oct 94 09:22:05 GMT Message-ID: <1994Oct03.092205.14115@sydney.DIALix.oz.au> X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL9] References: Date: 1994-10-03T09:22:05+00:00 List-Id: Robin Rowe (cpp@netcom.com) wrote: : << In the meantime, I have a responsibility to write reliable software. : Ada 9X does that for me in ways that C++ folks are now only dreaming : about. >> : What Ada 9X dreams am I supposed to be having? How about a : list of ways that Ada 9X can make more reliable software : than C++? This is an interesting point. I _know_ personally that it is possible to write software using Ada with an error introduction rate during design and coding something like an order of magnitude better than C or C++. (I have used all the languages extensively). However, this improvement is not seen in general, and I cannot achieve it myself without significantly changing the intellectual tools used to design and think about the software, and (to a lesser extent) the process of development. That is, Ada offers the _potential_ to get _much_ more reliability and productivity (much, much less time spent "integrating" i.e. finding and fixing errors), but this is achievable only by doing things differently. Having thought long and hard about getting the same sorts of improvement with C/C++, I don't think it is practicable (for various reasons, mainly concerned with complexity in the case of C++). So Ada development could show a big competitive advantage over the other contenders, but in practice it seems the difference (if any) can only be discovered by careful analysis. Lets face it, C++ stands a good chance of cornering the language use market as things stand. Ada 9X (and gnat especially!) will help to redress the balance somewhat, but C++ has an enormous push going - it's going to be difficult to change that. Are there case studies around that show significantly and consistently lower production costs with Ada? Or have we yet to acheive this sort of scaled improvement? I'm not talking about 20%, more like big multipliers. I understand (only too well) that language is only one of the factors in the software cost equation, but it seems that with all of the good properties that Ada has (and now with its serious design flaws fixed), it offers a great jumping off point for other process improvements. : Thanks. : Robin : : Regards, Andy Lees. : -- : ----- : Robin Rowe cpp@netcom.com 408-375-9449 Monterey, CA : Rowe Technology C++ training, consulting, and users groups.