REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Lisa Simmons]

In 1989, the Software Productivity Consortium published
"Ada Quality and Style:  Guidelines for Professional
Programmers".  We are now in the process of creating
a second edition and are soliciting feedback from those
who have had the opportunity to read or use these
guidelines.                            

Specifically, indicate any guidelines that you believe are
too specific/vague, wrong, missing, or have been difficult
to apply.  Also mention any additional topics regarding Ada
usage that you think should be addressed. When providing comments, 
please be as specific as possible.  If relevant, reference the
related topic/section/guideline.  Also provide any materials 
that might clarify each point, such as examples, etc.

We are especially interested in comments on guidelines for
reuse and portability.  For reuse, the guidelines will address
the construction of library units that require minimal
or no modification for reuse.  For portability, the
guidelines will minimize the impact on code due to any
change in environment.

Even if you haven't read the book, we are interested in
any guidelines that you have found to be useful.  Responses
can be mailed or e-mailed.  If there is interest, a summary
of the responses will be posted to this news group.

Lisa Simmons
simmons@software.org
Software Productivity Consortium
2214 Rock Hill Rd.
Herndon, VA 22070

Re: REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Michael Feldman]

In article <1991Apr15.132429.12230@software.org> simmons@oak.software.org (Lisa Simmons) writes:
>
>In 1989, the Software Productivity Consortium published
>"Ada Quality and Style:  Guidelines for Professional
>Programmers".  We are now in the process of creating
>a second edition and are soliciting feedback from those
>who have had the opportunity to read or use these
>guidelines.                            
>

 other stuff deleted


Hmmm. Didn't I read somewhere that these guidelines are intended for,
and were distributed to, SPC members only? If my memory is failing, I
apologize. If my memory is correct, and the guidelines are not available
to the Ada community at large, I don't think you should post this note
on a public newsgroup.

If the guidelines are available to all, why not post the draft somewhere
so we can ftp the document and get a look?

Mike Feldman
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prof. Michael Feldman
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052 U.S.A.

phone 202-994-5253
fax   202-994-5296
email mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Karl A. Nyberg]

In article <3069@sparko.gwu.edu> Mikey Feldman writes:
>In article <1991Apr15.132429.12230@software.org> simmons@oak.software.org (Lisa Simmons) writes:

Lots of stuff deleted..

>Hmmm. Didn't I read somewhere that these guidelines are intended for,
>and were distributed to, SPC members only? If my memory is failing, I
>apologize. If my memory is correct, and the guidelines are not available
>to the Ada community at large, I don't think you should post this note
>on a public newsgroup.
>
>If the guidelines are available to all, why not post the draft somewhere
>so we can ftp the document and get a look?

You can go out to a bookstore and buy the current book.  That seems pretty
available to me.  That would appear to be (loosely speaking) "the draft" of
the next revision.  Maybe I missed some thread here...

I think that this issues is as appropriate for this public newsgroup as lots
of the other stuff that's gone on lately.  :-)

-- Karl --

Re: REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Michael Feldman]

In article <9104170045.AA22455@grebyn.com> karl@grebyn.com (Karl A. Nyberg) writes:
>In article <3069@sparko.gwu.edu> Mikey Feldman writes:
                                  ^^^^^
                                  Sheesh! Even my mother can't get away
                                  with that anymore! :-)

>>Hmmm. Didn't I read somewhere that these guidelines are intended for,
>>and were distributed to, SPC members only? If my memory is failing, I
>>apologize. If my memory is correct, and the guidelines are not available
>>to the Ada community at large, I don't think you should post this note
>>on a public newsgroup.

>You can go out to a bookstore and buy the current book.  That seems pretty
>available to me.  That would appear to be (loosely speaking) "the draft" of
>the next revision.  Maybe I missed some thread here...


Obviously I was thinking of something else. I guess my memory was failing.
I stand corrected.


Mike(y)

Re: REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Elisa Simmons]

From article <3069@sparko.gwu.edu>, by mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman):
> If the guidelines are available to all, why not post the draft somewhere
> so we can ftp the document and get a look?
> 

The book is available for sale on the market.  The publisher
is Van Norstrand Reinhold (ISBN 0-442-23805-3).  We don't own 
the publishing rights, so we can't post it.

Lisa Simmons
simmons@software.org
Software Productivity Consortium
2214 Rock Hill Road             
Herndon, VA 22070

Re: REQUEST: Feedback on Ada Style Guide

[Jim Showalter]

A plug: myself and many others believe that this style guide is the
finest one that is generally available. We take issue with some minor
points, and we have an internal guide we prefer--but compared to all
OTHERS we have reviewed, this is by far the best of the bunch.

Congratulations are in order to the authors.
--
* The opinions expressed herein are my own, except in the realm of software *
* engineering, in which case I borrowed them from incredibly smart people.  *
*                                                                           *
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