Re: About Ada...

["Paul H. Whittington" <paul@srv.net>]

John can you give any comparisons regarding development and
maintenance, in terms of cost and time to market, between Ada
and any alternatives that have been attempted?


John Apa wrote:

> I'm sure sorry if I threatened your belief system, but since I work for the
> company that does the work for most of Boeing's AC I think I can safely
> make that assertion. The 777, 737, 747-400, V-22, and CH-47 all run on a
> diet of Ada. New planes ship with Ada, and the retrofit market is mostly
> Ada also. The guis are c or VAPs. We have hundreds of Ada engineers working
> on Boeing, and even Airbus, products. So start believing.
>
> I'm currently developing under DO-178B (in Ada95 even!), the FAA's new
> standard for flight software. It's very daunting, but most new software has
> to be recertified anyway so having it in Ada isn't a big deal. Much of the
> earlier (pre-84) SW was written in PL/1 and was ported to Ada. No, not the
> best plan, but that's how we got to where we are. Much of the code has been
> redesigned since then in Ada.
>
> You sound like you're stating that it'd be harder to certify with Ada than
> anything else, that's just plain false. It also sounds like you're stating
> that planes are never upgraded to more recent flight management/control
> systems, wrong again. Airframes are around for quite a while and in this
> market at least they are upgraded to increase safety and efficiency. Both
> noble causes.
>
> The FAA and world authorities are coming out with new regs for flying and
> that means better avionics are required to keep everyone safe. Something I
> strongly believe in when I'm at 30K Feet.
>
> You could have checked these facts too, it's certainly not a secret. I
> posted this information informally to show that Ada is not just a military
> language. It is being accepted commercially where safety and reliability
> are critical.
>
> Please check your beliefs and repost.
> John Apa
>
> Arthur Evans Jr <evans@evans.pgh.pa.us> wrote in article
> <evans-1712970812050001@ppp21.s8.pgh.net>...
> > In article <677hcg$s04@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
> > "John Apa" <wy.hunter@mailexcite.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Ada is used on almost every AC that Boeing delivers, not just the 777.
> >
> > Are you sure of this fact?  I find it highly unlikely.  Many aircraft
> > Boeing still delivers were developed long before Ada was considered a
> > practical solution -- or even before Ada existed.  As rewriting in Ada
> > would require new FAA certification, a daunting obstacle, I find it hard
> > to believe that anyone would have done such an upgrade.
> >
> > Please check your facts and repost.
> >
> > Art Evans
> >
> > Arthur Evans Jr, PhD
> > Ada Consulting
> > evans@evans.pgh.pa.us
> >