Large Ada Article in the Washington Post

Large Ada Article in the Washington Post

[Edward Berard]

Sunday's (July 17, 1988) Washington Post carried a large Ada article
in the *business* section (Section H). The article is titled
"'Universal' Computer Language Finally Takes Hold at Pentagon" and is
written by John Burgess, a Washington Post staff writer. The article
starts on the front page of the business section.

While the article contains few surprises for long-time Ada community
members, there are some interesting points. Some representative quotes
are: 

" It will take hold in the federal sector, I think," said Paul
Zorfass, director of the computer research at The Yankee Group, a
Boston-based research firm. "... It's proven itself sufficiently
robust as a language to be standardized and for the federal government
to hold people's feet to the fire."

"It was not economically feasible to conduct large programs using Ada
several years ago," said Jerry R. Pixton, director of software
engineering for Unisys Defense Systems, which last month announced a
$10 million Ada initiative. "That's changed."

"No one wanted to be the "early Christians" of this unproven faith,
jokes Milton Hess, vice president of American Management Systems, Inc.
"The early Christians are the ones who got fed to the lions."

				-- Ed Berard
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