Re: Do we need "Mission-Critical" software? Was: What to Do?

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@home.com>]

Cesar Scarpini Rabak wrote:
> "Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:
> [snipped]
> > First of all, I like the idea of the book. It should be written.
> 
> A book! Let's start with an article and have it published in Dr. Dobbs's
> Mag first!
> 
> just my .019...

Articles are also fine ;-)

> > (Advocacy mode on..)
> [snipped]
> 
> Whereas fine points are brought here, i would like to point that
> software security/safety does not come from language but several other
> things...

I'm not suggesting that the Ada95 language and/or compiler will solve all
security problems, or even reliability ones. But it does allow your CPU
to point out a lot of very common problems that lead to unreliable and/or
insecure programs. If you focus on all other aspects of security, as people
do when the write in C/C++/Java for example, then you leave unecessary
risks within the system. In a nutshell, Ada95 greatly improves the chances
of a program being correct, and less likely to be exploitable. 

> I counter case, usually used by Ada disgusters is the famous ESA Arianne
> rocket, although programmed in Ada it made a very expensive piece of
> hardware burn (literally!) due an error in design, notwitstanding the
> supposed high quality language (and btw process) to build the softaware.
> 
> Cesar

You can never eliminate human error or stupidity completely. I am sure many 
here on this news group could site "stupid Ada tricks" that are not the 
fault of the language or its tools, but of those USING the "tool". Kinda 
like the apprentice mechanic that uses a caliper as a C-clamp.

Your example is more the design/human-error type, which again, is not
completely avoidable. At least you can say that Ada did exactly as it
was told to do, when it burned it's hardware!  What more can you ask
of a computer?

You can't tell HAL to lie. He won't cope with that, no matter what the 
language used. ;-)

-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://members.home.net/ve3wwg