The press strikes again...

The press strikes again...

[Steve O'Neill]

I just love quotes like this (from the November 1999 issue of Military &
Aerospace Electronics):

"Another problem with replacing all 1553 with Fibre Channel is software
compatibility, says George Meares, vice president of research and
development at VMIC.  Currently there are neither Fibre Channel devices
designed to work with the Ada programming language,, (sic) nor is there any
interest, he adds."

Now, I know of at least one very large program that is developing just such
technology.  Perhaps someone should inform Mr. Meares of this effort.  Of
course, they aren't using VMIC hardware...

Steve O'Neill

Re: The press strikes again...

[Marin Condic]

Steve O'Neill wrote:

> "Another problem with replacing all 1553 with Fibre Channel is software
> compatibility, says George Meares, vice president of research and
> development at VMIC.  Currently there are neither Fibre Channel devices
> designed to work with the Ada programming language,, (sic) nor is there any
> interest, he adds."

The dumb part about this statement is that *nobody* designs a device to work
with a programming language. The device just does what it does and you have to
program around that. Do people design communication devices specifically to be
programmed in C? COBOL? Forth?

If what they meant was that nobody has build any commercially available Ada
software to control this device - that's a different issue. But that's just a
matter of funding someone to write the code. (Something we do all the time!)
The statement makes it sound like somehow or other Ada is inadequate for doing
the job.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
If you hurry you can, for a short time only, still find me at:
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***

Visit my web page at: http://www.mcondic.com/

Re: The press strikes again...

[Steve O'Neill]

Marin Condic <condicma@bogon.pwfl.com> wrote in message
news:382AEF3D.9DB18975@pwfl.com...
> Steve O'Neill wrote:
>
> > "Another problem with replacing all 1553 with Fibre Channel is software
> > compatibility, says George Meares, vice president of research and
> > development at VMIC.  Currently there are neither Fibre Channel devices
> > designed to work with the Ada programming language,, (sic) nor is there
any
> > interest, he adds."
>
> The dumb part about this statement is that *nobody* designs a device to
work with a programming language.

Exactly.  Just a stupid statement - but one from a VP of R&D of a company
with a rather large interest/influence in the VME marketplace.  He should
know better.  And then the fact that it is directed at just a single
language makes it even more interesting (like, what's the point of this
statement?).

> If what they meant was that nobody has build any commercially available
Ada software to control this device -

Perhaps his particular product but, like I said, I know of efforts with
other devices.  He also should clarify what type of Fibre Channel he's
talking about.  Is he talking of FC in a network application or in a storage
device application.  These are quite different and I doubt if you will find
much use of Ada in device drivers for storage devices.

> The statement makes it sound like somehow or other Ada is inadequate for
doing the job.

And, of course, all those more popular languages are perfect for it.  Huh?

Steve

Re: The press strikes again...

[Marin Condic]

Steve O'Neill wrote:

> > The statement makes it sound like somehow or other Ada is inadequate for
> doing the job.
>
> And, of course, all those more popular languages are perfect for it.  Huh?
>

Exactly! I've never heard anybody say something like "Device X isn't designed to
work with C/C++" The implicit assumption is that some other language is perfect
for everything and you have to jack-hammer Ada into being able to do something.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
If you hurry you can, for a short time only, still find me at:
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***

Visit my web page at: http://www.mcondic.com/

Re: The press strikes again...

[Robert Dewar]

In article <80f0i6$2hu$1@news.ime.net>,
  "Steve O'Neill" <smoneill@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The statement makes it sound like somehow or other Ada is
inadequate for
> doing the job.
>
> And, of course, all those more popular languages are perfect
for it.  Huh?


The trouble with a thread like this is that everyone is
preaching to the converted, and the original sinner won't even
get to hear the reactions. It is a good idea in such a case if
as many people as possible can take the effort to complain to
the originator of the incorrect comment. Preferably try to do
this in a constructive manner (it does not help to send messages
to people saying they are silly idiots in a PR context, even if
we do it occasionally in technical discussions on CLA :-) :-)


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