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From: Alan Hohn <alanh@planet8.tds-eagan.lmco.com>
Subject: Re: US-MN-Mpls >>> Ada Software Engineers <<<
Date: 1999/02/15
Message-ID: <36C8A705.597D432A@planet8.tds-eagan.lmco.com>#1/1
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References: <alwillF6y5tr.7Cq@netcom.com> <79scn2$k04@drn.newsguy.com>
 <36c25c45.0@news.pacifier.com> <79v9f4$fe$1@remarq.com>
 <79vd9b$45k$1@remarQ.com> <7a1eir$6oe$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
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Organization: Lockheed/Martin TDS Eagan
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Reply-To: Alan.M.Hohn@lmco.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1999-02-15T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

robert_dewar@my-dejanews.com wrote:

> In article <79vd9b$45k$1@remarQ.com>,
>   fraser@nospam.com wrote:
> > I nearly cried when fraser@nospam.com said:
> >
> > >Ha!  So Ada is used to kill trees as well!
>
> Unfortunately fraser had not even read the article to
> which he replied. The original article addressed this
> accusation specifically in an eloquent manner. THe poster
> noted that the use of Ada to ensure more efficient usage
> of trees was in fact *reducing* the number of trees that
> were killed :-)
>

Bob,

I love your snippy attacks of others' arguments as much as
the next c.l.a reader, which is to say I don't dare get in the way
of your bombast because I know you're <nearly> always right.
But I'm afraid you're tanked here. Not only did Fraser correct
himself, but your post includes his correcting post, not his mistaken
post, which leaves you open to the same charge you level against him.

I personally think chopping down trees is swell if it's done to make
houses or even good-looking spice racks for people. I also think
efficiency is even more swell for religious, economic, and intuitive
reasons. But I think this takes us away from the thrust of the
argument, which I extend thusly:

1. I am an Ada software engineer working for a large defense contractor;
2. I had no problem finding a job, and had many to choose from;
   -- I'm a direct employee, so my experience isn't that of a contractor
   -- like our initial poster, but read point 4;
3. I know for a fact that I make more as an Ada software engineer than
I would as a C++ whatever, because I got offers in both;
4. I don't give a rat's behind about your job situation, except to the
extent I can use your salary to get a raise out of my company. No offense.

Supplement: I know that the term "Ada software engineer" is self-limiting,

and that the software engineering I do, which is the valuable skill, is
not
specifically tied to any language. But we use Ada because it works, we
have
very reliable mission-critical software, and my experience in Ada made
me more attractive to potential employers.

Additional supplement: Yes, our mission-critical software kills things. It

also finds things that kill things, but I'm not going to euphemize. I
agree
with my colleague Dalen when he mentions the horror of war relative to
the horror of servitude, and I have sufficient faith in my country to take

pleasure from the fact that our soldiers will be able to kill things--and
people, since I'm not euphemizing--more reliably and efficiently
because of my work.

Yours in defense of Ada, Western Civilization, and the right of people
to correct themselves before someone else corrects them,
Alan Hohn