Re: Ideas for Ada 200X

[Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com>]

"Tarjei T. Jensen" wrote:

> The only workable plan I know of involves me having an job in academia and
> farming out projects to students. Since I'm not in academia the plan sinks
> (or stinks).

Even in academia, a professor is too often dependent on outside funding for
support.   Also, students are not so compliant unless the work they are doing
is related to a pre-stated  reward.   Such rewards are more difficult to
confer unless they are related to either an on-going class or funded research.
Since we are having more difficulty, in recent times, getting a fully-formed
Ada class populated by students, and since funding is notably scarce, most
professors find themselves with little motivation to do work related to
Ada.   If such funding were available, I would be happy to encourage more
of my own students to pursue more Ada projects, including the development
of more libraries.

The unconscionable position of the current DoD management regarding
funding for Ada support and research is much to the detriment of our
continued superiority in military software systems.   At present, there
seems to be no avenue leading to a more enlightened DoD policy.

Richard Riehle