From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,e6d1607a5397de6b X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Michael P. Card" Subject: Ada vs. C++ in defense projects Date: 2000/11/03 Message-ID: <3A02DB88.8A4232D1@lmco.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 689546736 References: <39FDE9E4.35F615A6@netwood.net> <39FE461D.275F1363@ix.netcom.com> <8tmt7o$vbj$1@nnrp1.deja.com> X-Accept-Language: en Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------9BDBBA5F6AC13658364853A3" X-Complaints-To: usenet@news.vf.lmco.com X-Trace: knight.vf.lmco.com 973265799 20275 144.219.231.181 (3 Nov 2000 15:36:39 GMT) Organization: Lockheed Martin Mime-Version: 1.0 NNTP-Posting-Date: 3 Nov 2000 15:36:39 GMT Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-11-03T15:36:39+00:00 List-Id: This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------9BDBBA5F6AC13658364853A3 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Mike- I am on a project now which is mixed Ada and C++. I find it frightening that many defense contractors are pushing C++ for critical defense systems like the one I am working on now, though thankfully I am on a team which is working the Ada part. C++ is, IMO, an extremely poor choice for defense systems for many reasons, not the least of which include portability, readability, maintainability, and memory corruption due to invalid type casts and over-writing array bounds. As far as I am concerned, there is no financial or technical justification for using C++ on these kinds of projects. IMO, the only reason it is chosen by mgmt and some engineers is that most of us remember the big defense downturn of the late 80's and early 90's. If you want to go work for Microsoft or a dot com, or if you want your resume ready just in case, it is a lot better to be able to say "I managed a team of 50 C++ programmers and we developed a 40 KSLOC distributed real-time C++ application" or "As a S/W engineer at company X, I wrote 10 KSLOC of C++ on my last project." Because of this "resume factor," engineers and managers in the defense industry are willing (albeit often unintentional) collaborators on the move to C++. When you couple this with amazing trends like the preference for Windows NT as the information infrastructure for the CVN-77 (new Navy carrier), you can begin to believe that it would be in America's best interest for the government to pay M$ to re-write Windows, Office, Access, Project and SQL Server in Ada. The way I see it, M$ would like it since they could improve their products at taxpayer expense, consumers would get more reliable software, and the DoD would get a better infrastructure for the CVN-77 and future projects! (tongue-in-cheek here) - Mike mjsilva@my-deja.com wrote: > In article <39FE461D.275F1363@ix.netcom.com>, > Lao Xiao Hai wrote: > > > > Indeed!!!!!!?????? Most organizations that I see choosing > > C++ over Ada have done very little in the way of careful > > study. Certainly no U.S. military organization has thought > > this through very carefully. It is, in fact, quite scary. An > > organization that could not manage a single-language > > policy is under the illusion that it can manage a multiple- > > language policy. > > I'm still interested in hearing if any of those who have switched from > Ada to The Radiant Future of language X are finding that there's > trouble in paradise X. It seems that if there is trouble in paradise X > then we Ada advocates should be sure and document it for the benefit of > others who are considering such a switch, or who are simply evaluating > languages. OTOH, if everybody is happy as a clam using X then I guess > we need to rethink some of our assumptions. > > Mike > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy. --------------9BDBBA5F6AC13658364853A3 Content-Type: text/x-vcard; charset=us-ascii; name="michael.p.card.vcf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Description: Card for Michael P. Card Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="michael.p.card.vcf" begin:vcard n:Card;Michael tel;fax:315-456-0441 tel;work:315-456-3022 x-mozilla-html:TRUE org:Lockheed Martin ;Ocean, Radar, and Sensor Systems version:2.1 email;internet:michael.p.card@lmco.com title:Principal Software Engineer adr;quoted-printable:;;Electronics Park=0D=0ABuilding 6, Room 201;Syracuse;NY;13221;USA fn:Michael Card end:vcard --------------9BDBBA5F6AC13658364853A3--