Re: Evaporating Jovial

[brashear@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Philip Brashear)]

Addressing the question of whether JOVIAL is evaporating --

JOVIAL was, for some time, required by the Air Force for all onboard mission-
critical software, until the requirement was changed to Ada.  The language
(JOVIAL J73) was maintained by the Air Force and was standardized by 
MIL-STD-1589C (the latest version).  1589D was developed, but the Language
Control Board decided not to issue the new standard.  Maintenance of the
Air Force-sponsored compiler was discontinued a couple of years ago, and
I led the validation of the last version in 1993.  Thus, as a standardized,
validated, sponsored language, JOVIAL is dead.

HOWEVER, I still receive inquiries about the availability of JOVIAL compilers,
including a recent one from an Air Force maintenance organization that wanted
to transition its software to a UNIX host platform.  This wasn't J73, but the
(much) older J3 version of JOVIAL.  So far as I can tell, there's a LOT of
JOVIAL code on Air Force machines (including the B2, I've been told -- no,
that's not classified information or I wouldn't know about it).  Therefore,
there's a lot of maintenance.  I've also been told by a developer of JOVIAL
training courses that some overseas weapons customers are doing development
in JOVIAL.

Bottom line?  JOVIAL isn't dead.  Maybe nothing ever dies.

Phil Brashear
CTA INCORPORATED