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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,6b24e52e7dcae753 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-07-07 12:34:36 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed-east.nntpserver.com!nntpserver.com!feed.cgocable.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!f7c2b8a7!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3D28988C.12E37188@earthlink.net> From: "Marc A. Criley" Organization: Quadrus Corporation X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-5.0 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Software Liability References: <3D231E17.97B4F695@san.rr.com> <3D25C26F.5BB9E9AE@despammed.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2002 19:34:21 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.190.224.115 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1026070461 63.190.224.115 (Sun, 07 Jul 2002 12:34:21 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 07 Jul 2002 12:34:21 PDT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:26929 Date: 2002-07-07T19:34:21+00:00 List-Id: Wes Groleau wrote: > > Depends on who you are. I remember once > shaking my head in disbelief while examining > a _single_ Ada file that contained three _different_ > algorithms for removing leading and trailing blanks > from a string. > > When the person who wrote it said to someone else > across the room, "Ada is an abomination" it was very > difficult to not turn around and say, "It certainly > is when you write it!" As a result of a company reorg, the projects at a facility that was closing were relocated and I was in the group that inherited one of them as it completed its final development phase and went into initial system test. (Note also that virtually none of the original developers relocated with the system.) The system had severe functional problems and so the corporate systems gurus were called in to find out what was wrong and what it would take to fix it. Amongst others, the now-current developers were interviewed, and when asked, I was quite candid about the deficiencies of the system's design and implementation. One of the few original developers that did relocate piped up and said, "Well, that's Ada for you." Without even thinking I shot back "It's not Ada, it's _poor_ design." And oh Lord it was. Marc A. Criley