Re: ARIANE-5 Failure (DC-X works)

[Ken Garlington <garlingtonke@lmtas.lmco.com>]

Robert Dewar wrote:
> 
> If what is delivered is the 4GL code, and Ada acts merely as an intermediate
> language which will never be looked at by a person, let alone maintained,
> then the program really is written in another language, and a waiver really
> is required (though, if a very hgh level language is being used appropriately),
> such a waiver is certainly reasonable (and in fact I may be wrong, but I think
> there is some kind of blanket permission to use high level tools of the 4GL
> type).

The current DoD policy, as I recall, says that it is preferable to use 4GLs where
Ada is not possible, although a specific waiver is still required. However, it doesn't
say anything about needing a waiver to use tools that generate Ada code, including 4GL
tools. There is no distiction drawn between writing (and maintaining) Ada code manually,
and auto-generating Ada code (and maintaining some higher-level representation of the code). 
If you can find something specific in the DoDD or DoDI set that says this, I would like to 
know.

If you're saying the Ada policy _should_ be this way, that's fine, but I find nothing that
claims it _is_ this way. Certainly, the instructions I've received as a contractor do
not require a waiver in these cases, even though our customer knows that we auto-generate
Ada code, and use it as an intermediate language, in some cases.

I've copied Joan McGarity on this question, perhaps she can give us the AJPO interpretation
of Ada policy with respect to automatically-generated Ada code.

-- 
LMTAS - "Our Brand Means Quality"