Re: memory leakages with Ada?

[Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com>]

Pat Rogers wrote:

> There is plenty of evidence that Ada is much more cost-effective than C for the
> application domain Ada was designed for.  Unfortunately I don't know of much
> meaningful comparison data for Ada vs. C++.    I know what my "gut" tells me,
> but that isn't so useful in this context.

Pat,

I have had some recent correspondence with Don Reifer regarding Ada's
economic viability with respect to other languages.    Don seems to feel
that, while Ada may be a better language choice for weapon systems
development, the economics are not currently in its favor.    He has an
article in the current issue of Crosstalk where he does some comparisons
based on data he has been collecting over a long time.

Don quite correctly challenges us to collect and develop the numbers
to support our claims about Ada's productivity and its relevance in
the current language environment.     While some may be critical of
Don for their own reasons, he is not an enemy of Ada.  Rather, he
has a consulting practice built on software metrics, and his credibility
as a consultant demands he be honest with the data he develops.

I raise this issue because you and others have asserted the "evidence"
for the cost-effectiveness of Ada from time to time.   If we do have
such evidence, it is time to prepare a counter-argument to Reifer's
Crosstalk article.  He actually invites us to do so in that article.

So, where are the metrics?  Has anyone collected them in one place?
Is anyone with a predilection for Statistics interested in taking on
this kind of project?

Oh, and I don't think a rant about Reifer is appropriate.  He is an
honest man trying to do his best with the tools and information he
has.  If we have other information, it is our responsibility to present
it.  Let's see if we can deal with this issue with other than an ad
hominen attack.

Richard Riehle