Re: "C" AND Ada

[eugene@pioneer.arpa (Eugene Miya N.)]

>In article <1065@vu-vlsi.UUCP> harman@vu-vlsi.UUCP (Glen Harman) writes:
>>	... discussion about Ada and C for aeroSPACE ...
>
In article <12513@clyde.ATT.COM> spf@moss.UUCP (Steve Frysinger) says:
>Learn them both.

I hate these cross-referenced posting, but I recognize this as a
vocational question not just a technical question.  I also recognize
that few people who are really using Ada have responded.  I sent Glen
mail, but I realize others will ignore it.

First, vocation, I agree with Steve: learn both, or the ideas of both.
What the Glens of the world have to realize is that companies don't hire
you just because you know C or Ada, they hire you because you are
supposed to be bright and flexible (gleem!).  The world is trending
toward multi-lingual programming environments: using many languages to
solve problems [I'm even learning Icon now].  That is the point.  No
single language will solve all your problems, they are not designed that
way.

Second, policy. This is the real reason why I wanted to post this.
In the case of the Space Station (note caps), the word very high is any
software developer writing for the Station MUST use Ada.  Recently, the
AI groups in NASA had this dropped on them: no LISP (for Station).  None
what so ever.  [I won't debate the intelligence of this decision.]
Control is tight.  This does not mean C won't fly on some self-contained
packages, but it does set the tone (from pre-flight reviews) of the
main Station software.  This in turn affects other projects (excepting
certain HAL/S based projects like Shuttle).

If you want to work in aerospace (military or not), you can't ignore Ada.
But learn other languages and be flexible.

From the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:

--eugene miya
  NASA Ames Research Center
  eugene@ames-aurora.ARPA
  "You trust the `reply' command with all those different mailers out there?"
  "Send mail, avoid follow-ups.  If enough, I'll summarize."
  {hplabs,hao,ihnp4,decwrl,allegra,tektronix,menlo70}!ames!aurora!eugene