Ada Productivity (Was: Mindless Transitions!)

[sampson@cod.NOSC.MIL (Charles H. Sampson)]

In article <9012191446.AA10320@logdis1.wr.aflc.af.mil> kmccook@LOGDIS1.WR.AFLC.AF.MIL (GS-09 Ken McCook;SCDD) writes:
>
>                                 ... for information systems
>"Ada Only" is going to cause an incredible drop in productivity.

     The Army's STANFINS project would appear to be a counterexample to
this.  It's a good-sized MIS project and the official line, from both the
contractor and Army personnel, is that it's a roaring success.  I consider
their very high productivity claims to be somewhat suspect, but even if
they are toned down substantially, they're still impressive.

     There's an interesting sidelight to STANFINS.  The original was a COBOL
system, of course, and the COBOL programmers had to be retrained to Ada.
Ralph Crafts tells the story that when the programmers were asked to return
to COBOL when STANFINS was finished, they not only refused, but they threat-
ened to quit if they were forced.

                              Charlie