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=0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_20,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,33e793a459e66944 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen) Subject: Re: What is Ada used for??? Date: 1996/10/10 Message-ID: <1996Oct10.073723.1@eisner>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 188455146 x-nntp-posting-host: eisner.decus.org references: <53i2h6$cku@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu> x-nntp-posting-user: KILGALLEN x-trace: 844947449/7985 organization: LJK Software newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-10-10T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <53i2h6$cku@flood.weeg.uiowa.edu>, WhiteR@CRPL.Cedar-Rapids.lib.IA.US (Robert S. White) writes: > In article , roehnelt@csulb.edu says... >> >>I'm taking my first programming class at school, and want to know where Ada >>fits in to the grand scheme of things.... > > Avionics (big catch all for instruments & navigation), flight control > software, engine control software (rockets & jets), GPS satellites, GPS/INS > systems are things I personally know about. I heard reports that some Swiss > bankers use it. The complete list and possibilities is quite large. There > have not been a lot of high volume general purpose desktop applications > (word processors and spreadsheets) written in Ada. Think about where > software bugs are tolerated and where they are not. > > Ada in general is very well suited for programming in the large with a > team of software engineers. Ada is also quite useful for programs which will exist for a long time but will only be revised very infrequently. Even if changes to a program are made by the original author, it is quite possible that the workings of the program will be forgotten by the time the change is to be made. Due to the nature of the language, Ada has a greater chance than most languages of catching errors due to unfamiliarity with the program being changed. In the line of "personal programs", I did not use Ada for the program which handled the invitation list for my wedding, since reusing it is not my plan. I _did_ use Ada for the program which sends messages to my pager in response to certain events, since I revise that program every 3 years or so. Larry Kilgallen