Re: decline of Ada?

[JBisaillon <jbisaill@brainiac.com>]

I am not sure what the exact thread is here, I have a sense of what
it might be.  Let me shed some light on a few realities.

1) If you are an Ada programmer, you had better pray that you don't
get downsized.  All that training, years of experience, are virtually
worthless unless you can find another DoD Contractor
doing Ada.

2) DoD Contractors will not build in Ada because you can't find
trained coders to work for 24K to 32K per year.  But you can find "C"
coders.  Therefore, if you want the contract, you cut the cost and
program it in "C".  It really has very little to do with the language,
its advantages, or disadvantages.  It has to do with dollars.

Just a few words of wisdom for Ada coders.  There is no place to go.
If you do not know another language, kiss you butt good bye.

I've been building systems, primarily Naval systems for about 15 years.
You can not code a system in Ada and be cost competitive.  I can get
two or three good "C" coders, X-Windows coders at the price of one Ada
programmer.

The government will tell you to code in Ada, and every Contractor who
is willing to work the job, will submit a waiver to do the system in
"C".  As a result, by default it is not done in Ada.

I've been specifically told, "If you want a job, remove the "Ada" word
from your resume".  I've been told by others that only "DoD
people do Ada, and DoD people are not productive".


Been there, done that!
JimB