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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,b7857cb3cbabcf8d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,b7857cb3cbabcf8d X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: ff6c8,b7857cb3cbabcf8d X-Google-Attributes: gidff6c8,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,b7857cb3cbabcf8d X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,b7857cb3cbabcf8d X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public From: Steve Jones - JON Subject: Re: Ada News Brief Date: 1996/10/18 Message-ID: <32675BB3.40E2@eurocontrol.fr>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 190273125 references: <533utt$43p@ns1.sw-eng.falls-church.va.us> <544b8m$duh@felix.seas.gwu.edu> <32676DA5.7686@wgs.estec.esa.nl> content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii organization: Eurocontrol Experimental Centre mime-version: 1.0 newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.sw.components,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.edu x-mailer: Mozilla 2.0 (X11; I; HP-UX A.09.05 9000/720) Date: 1996-10-18T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: Sandy McPherson wrote: > > Michael Feldman wrote: > > > > In article , Robert Dewar wrote: > > > > > Hmmm - now that FAA seems to be moving toward using other languages, in > > addition to Ada, I wonder if that PM would set the same requirement for > > the subsystems written in... oh, say... C++. > > > > No, he would have *assumned* this is true for C++. It is amazing how > many people assume C++ is as portable as ANSI C. C++ is perceived as > being sexy and beautiful, and thus seemingly normal people can be > reduced to the level of infatuated teenagers. > > Why are the FAA moving to other languages? In Europe Ada is ATC language > number one. Did the FAA get burnt by an Ada development which went out > of control. Could someone supply me with references please? > Well I've worked on the NERC ATC project (The new posh UK system) and am now working at Eurocontrol (A conglomeration of all of Europes Aviation Authorities to create a unified approach). NERC used C to do the GUI side, mainly because at the start there were no offical X/Motif bindings. Eurocontrol is at present using Ada in totallity for its simulations (it has the bindings) but will be moving more towards C++ as it moves to client server. The problem is that new technoligies come out first in C (now in C++) and projects have to go that way. As for why the old FAA project failed ? From talking to people who worked on it (ie not managers or press releases). There were several horrific design decisions made at early stages and an overestimation of just what was physically possible and simple. If you have a bad design no language would be better than another. On the NERC side though about 90% of the bugs were in the C code of which only about half would have been picked up if it had used Ada. The problem was also that GUIs tend to be very complex, although no end-user will belive you, and you would expect more problems there. Ada was absolutely essential however in making sure communications between systems was correct, I dread to think what would have happened with 100 people working in C with interfaces with no size constaints. Steve Jones Eurocontrol Experimental Centre