Re: Is the Writing on the Wall for Ada?

[David Marceau <davidmarceau@sympatico.ca>]

"Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" wrote:
> 
> This is not a troll... but I am soliciting some opinion.
> 
> I read a disturbing article in the July COTS Journal recently,
> and thought I would bounce the controversial aspects off
> of the group. The complete article can be read at:
> 
>   http://www.cotsjournalonline.com/pdfs/2003/07/COTS07_softside.pdf
> 
> I have quoted some of the sections for ease of discussion below:
> 
> From Article:
> 
>   Softer Side: Java in the Military
>   Java Proving Itself Worthy for Defense Apps
>   July 2003 COTS Journal [ 27 ]
> 
> ...
> 
> Navy's Open Architecture
> ========================
> 
> **** <highlight> ****
> 
> Among the key motivations for the military's interest in Java is a drive
> to transition away from Ada.
> 
> **** </highlight> ****
> 
> The feeling is that Java represents a modern and more commercially
> available technology than alternatives. The Navy, for example, is
> drafting their Navy Open Architecture Computing Environment (NOACE) to
> be the standard for all future software systems on Navy warships. That
> includes shipboard weapon systems, such as anti-aircraft cannon controls
> as well as avionics systems aboard naval aircraft. The standard calls
> for all new software to develop in either C++ or Java, and makes
> specific mention of moving away from Ada. They plan to continue to use
> Ada only as required to support legacy systems that have already been
> developed.
> 
> ...
> 
> Moving Away from Ada
> ====================
> 
> For its part, Boeing has also expressed a clear preference to move
> toward Java. Winner of the lead system integrator contract on for U.S.
> Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, Boeing is farming out their
> FCS requirements and telling suppliers they want to use Java, they don't
> 
>   **** <highlight> ****
> 
> like C++ and they don't like Ada for any new system development. Many
> 
>   **** </highlight> ****
> 
> suppliers to FCS are therefore tasked to convert reams of Ada code over
> to Java.
> 
> There are some basic human resources reasons why Java is a preferred
> approach. Today's new graduates from college are 99% more likely to know
> Java than any other programming language. And among experienced
> programmers out in the workforce, more will tend to highlight Java on
> their resume rather than Ada. The ranks of true Ada gurus are probably
> comprised more of programmers near retirement than otherwise.
> 
> </quote>
> 
> SOME OBSERVATIONS:
> ==================
> 
> I have seen many quotes here in comp.lang.ada and other web sources
> that only the mandate to use Ada has been dropped. The position that
> is usually made is that Ada is still considered on a project by
> project basis, where it makes sense.
> 
> However, if the above article is accurate, it seems that the U.S.
> military (and Boeing) is making a conscious effort to move away from Ada.
> The article is suggesting that the only reason to use Ada now would
> be for legacy systems. Boeing apparently does not want to use Ada
> in any new development.
> 
> CONCLUSION:
> 
> Whether or not you agree with the reasoning in the article, the
> disturbing thing in my mind is the "mindset". If the military and big
> industrial companies like Boeing turn their back on Ada, where is Ada
> headed for in the future? Is there enough other momentum to keep Ada
> (and GNAT) going into the foreseeable future?
> 
> I attended a small Real-Time conference last week in Toronto, and I only
> heard the name Ada  mentioned once, and in a negative way
> (in passing reference WRT Real-Time Java). None of the vendors there
> that I talked to were using Ada for their SBC and the one vendor
> for flight systems told me they simply do not have the customer
> demand for Ada systems.
> 
> So: Is the writing on the wall for Ada?
> 
> What is your take on the article?
> --
> Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
> http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg
It sounds like a language war being declared again.  If you are saying
if the ada lovers should give up, well here are some alternatives among
others:
-go against the flow and openly defend ada as if it were your religion. 
I was told recently that I consider the Ada language like a religion.   
I may be a language zealot deep inside of me but that's because I don't
want to have to deal with the immense long-term impact of some idiotic
decicion maker choosing the wrong language for building high-integrity
systems.  The key words are "LONG-TERM IMPACT ON SOCIETY".
-go with the flow...take the money and run....develop in java...if you
can't beat em join right?
-if you're really hot, build a chip you coded in ada and give it a
JNI(java native interface) or JVM front end :)  That way everybody's
happy because where it needs to be reliable it is and everything else to
crap out as much as it wants...it's a compromise mind you.  Rumor has it
maybe there are some that already exist with real-time
java/j2me/javacard vm chips running ada inside.
-be a subversive...pretend to be a loyal java developer while coding ada
in some dark corner on your spare time :)  When the right moment comes
the subvervises will come out of the closet and revive ada :)

As it stands there are so many language wars going on that are
pointless.  Currently there is a new wave of web site developers that
are keen on using php/apache/sql on linux boxes....this sounds like a
tangent but its not because eventually some of these developers might
decide to build an embedded system with php in it.  It sounds a lot like
when java started doesn't it?

I think the US DOD did a courageous thing to let other(non-ada)
languages the chance to participate in building many projects.  From
what I understand it was a calculated decision because they took metrics
throughout these projects or at least they were supposed to.

If Ada's time has come, then so be it...but the data from some other
CROSSTALK issues point to other results...results that explicitly show
Ada builds more reliable systems in the long term.   The other feeling
driving me to use ada is my own personal experience with Ada, c,c++,
java, javacard, and j2me.
Let's be honest java is fun to play with and especially on the new
gizmos(pdas,cellphones,smartcards).  That said my gut instinct tells me
it could be better and faster if these devices allowed me to install ada
applets/cardlets/midlets in them instead.

I did read the real time java spec.  The only way it could really
replace ada is if it inherited all of the ada language design.
That isn't going to happen though because real time java is under the
constraint of having-to-look-and-feel like the rest of the java subsets
i.e. javacard, j2me, etc... in order for the language to be easier to
learn and get up to speed.  Yes it is true that java/j2me/javacard on
cell phones/pda's seems adequate but I would bet if these were built
with ada, not only would they be more reliable but they would definitely
run faster.  That said yes a cell phone is not a life-threatening system
and if it bugs/crashes well you just turn it off and then back on.  For
some other people(you know who you are) cell phones/pda's however have
to work all-the-time with no bugs.  Java/j2me/javacard doesn't cut it
for these.  I have another theory maybe there is a double standard being
developed....within a certain number of core devices they still use ada
to have the edge and then for the rest of the industry they give them
the lower quality slower stuff i.e. java just to make sure they keep the
edge :)  I also have another theory...someone wants java to become more
popular in order to make it easier for industry to introduce honeypots
or viruses on anyone's machine in this manner because nobody is using
all the cpu power capacity at 100% all the time.  I remember when my
compiler used to just eat everything the cpu could give me.  That's not
the case with the java compiler tools well not unless you are using a
sophisticated IDE.  Because we are getting used to java's jvm on-the-fly
byte-code compiling/interpreting slowing down performance we just get
used to it being slow all the time when in fact it gives
viruses/honeypots a place to hide because we don't notice them eating
away our cpu cycles.

As you can see it's not black and white...it's just all gray.  I
sincerely think ada and java will both be around with all their
flavours.  I think DOD is not crazy enough to just ditch ada for java. 
They know better than to put all there eggs in one basket which is what
all the above is about right?  What DOD actually wants is to have more
alternatives for doing reliable systems hence the place for
RealTimeJava's existence and encouragement.

My suggestion if you want job security...know both Ada and Java very
well and never admit to your superiors that you like ada more than
java.  Be a diplomat.  I learned this the hard way.  If you want to lose
your job or lose a job opportunity just do like I did...tell them that
you prefer not to use java and explicitly state the technical reasons. 
I have learned from this experience and will never do this again :)  I
do hope that by sharing this with you that it might help someone keep
their job.

Thank you for listening to my delusions :)

Yet another ada wanna-be,
David Marceau