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,bedb0d6478721e2d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-10-08 06:01:21 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3F840A9F.4030408@noplace.com> From: Marin David Condic User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20020823 Netscape/7.0 (OEM-HPQ-PRS1C03) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: stupid question References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 13:01:20 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 165.247.68.1 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net 1065618080 165.247.68.1 (Wed, 08 Oct 2003 06:01:20 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2003 06:01:20 PDT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:458 Date: 2003-10-08T13:01:20+00:00 List-Id: I hope you're not trolling to see if you can start a language war. ;-) Some have mentioned Spark - a subset of Ada. That has merit. I regularly build engine controls for jet and rocket engines using Ada - not the Spark subset. We don't use *all* features of Ada - usually for timing or sizing concerns or its just not in the nature of what we do. (Strings, for example, just aren't a big concern for an engine control.) We understand what things in the language may have some uncertainty or risk involved and make choices about what we use on a case-by-case basis. In general we like Ada because of all the checking it does. (and other reasons, but for safety purposes, its the checking.) When we started using Ada we kept stats on defects found in the software and discovered that we had reduced error rates by a factor of four. We were building "safe" software before, but doing so with a much higher cost in testing and rework. Now, because we don't inject so many errors, its less expensive to make the software safe. MDC Shanon Fernald wrote: > What programming language do you think would be best to use if you > were building the software to manage a nuclear power plant and why? > Which would let you sleep best at night knowing you lived next door to > the plant? -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic I work for: http://www.belcan.com/ My project is: http://www.jsf.mil/NSFrames.htm Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ a c m . o r g "All reformers, however strict their social conscience, live in houses just as big as they can pay for." --Logan Pearsall Smith ======================================================================