Digital MoBoard in Ada

Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Richard Riehle]

At last year's SigAda Conference, two of my students
presented a paper on a project they did for their Master's
Thesis in our Software Engineering program at Naval
Postgraduate School.

Since their graduation, they have continued to develop and
enhance this system.  It is getting a lot of interest within many
U.S. Navy groups.

They have recently put up a web site that might be of interest
to some of the readers of this forum.    It is an example of how
Ada along with GtkAda can be used successfully to develop
are really useful application.    If you like it, drop them a note
of encouragement.

The address of the site is

                               www.DigitalMoboard.hssites.com

Richard Riehle

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Zach Swanson]

Could your perhaps elaborate on what the Digital "Mo-Board" project
is, because the website you listed doesn't present very much
information.

Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com> wrote in message news:<3CDC6AE3.FCBB6E96@adaworks.com>...
> At last year's SigAda Conference, two of my students
> presented a paper on a project they did for their Master's
> Thesis in our Software Engineering program at Naval
> Postgraduate School.
> 
> Since their graduation, they have continued to develop and
> enhance this system.  It is getting a lot of interest within many
> U.S. Navy groups.
> 
> They have recently put up a web site that might be of interest
> to some of the readers of this forum.    It is an example of how
> Ada along with GtkAda can be used successfully to develop
> are really useful application.    If you like it, drop them a note
> of encouragement.
> 
> The address of the site is
> 
>                                www.DigitalMoboard.hssites.com
> 
> Richard Riehle

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Matthew Woodcraft]

In article <3CDC6AE3.FCBB6E96@adaworks.com>,
Richard Riehle  <richard@adaworks.com> wrote:
>They have recently put up a web site that might be of interest
>to some of the readers of this forum.    It is an example of how
>Ada along with GtkAda can be used successfully to develop
>are really useful application.    If you like it, drop them a note
>of encouragement.

I see:
   Javascript is either disabled or not supported by this browser.
   This page may not appear properly.
and nothing else.

As far as I'm concerned, this site isn't an example of the successful
use of anything.

-M-

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[David C. Hoos, Sr.]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Zach Swanson" <x24702@usma.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
To: <comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
Sent: May 12, 2002 12:39 AM
Subject: Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada


> Could your perhaps elaborate on what the Digital "Mo-Board" project
> is, because the website you listed doesn't present very much
> information.

Moboards are so-called Maneuvering Boards which are used to manually
plot the relative motion of ships approaching each other. There is a nice
Power Point presentation used in Naval Officer training classes at
http://www.colorado.edu/NROTC/NAVR_Classes/3020_-_Nav_II/Rel.Motion-_Moboard_1
_.ppt

As with many very powerful and useful computer programs, even the need for or
the desirability of a particular program cannot even be imagined by someone
unfamiliar with the problem domain.

My own work is in an area of endeavor that I didn't even imagine existed,
until called upon to write software for it.

>
> Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com> wrote in message
news:<3CDC6AE3.FCBB6E96@adaworks.com>...
<snip>

> > The address of the site is
> >
> >                                www.DigitalMoboard.hssites.com

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[David C. Hoos, Sr.]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matthew Woodcraft" <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
To: <comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
Sent: May 12, 2002 5:11 AM
Subject: Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

<snip>

> I see:
>    Javascript is either disabled or not supported by this browser.
>    This page may not appear properly.
> and nothing else.
> 
> As far as I'm concerned, this site isn't an example of the successful
> use of anything.

From what your browser is telling you, you either need to enable
JavaScript, or get a browser which supports it.

I can assure you that with a properly enabled browser there is
plenty to see, although this is not an Open Source project, nor
is the program available to non-Department of Defense persons.

See my earlier response to Zack Swanson for an explanation of
the problem solved by this software.

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Michal Nowak]

On 2002-05-12 at 06:24 David C. Hoos, Sr. wrote:

>From what your browser is telling you, you either need to enable
>JavaScript, or get a browser which supports it.
>
>I can assure you that with a properly enabled browser there is
>plenty to see,
[snip]

I used Opera 6.0 and also saw nearly nothing (excect for logo).
I had Java and JavaScript enabled and I suppose it works 
(at least it works for some pages like nba.com, where there is
lots of JavaScript fireworks and for new AdaIC site). 

Mike

[OT] Not communicating through web pages (was: Digital MoBoard in Ada)

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <mailman.1021202521.21525.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>, "David C. Hoos, Sr." <david.c.hoos.sr@ada95.com> writes:
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Matthew Woodcraft" <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
> Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
> To: <comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
> Sent: May 12, 2002 5:11 AM
> Subject: Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada
> 
> <snip>
> 
>> I see:
>>    Javascript is either disabled or not supported by this browser.
>>    This page may not appear properly.
>> and nothing else.
>> 
>> As far as I'm concerned, this site isn't an example of the successful
>> use of anything.
> 
> From what your browser is telling you, you either need to enable
> JavaScript, or get a browser which supports it.

Or visit a page written by people who know how to communicate.
Mechanisms that introduce security vulnerabilities should _never_
be the sole method of providing information -- there should always
be a plain HTML default.

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Richard Riehle]

Matthew Woodcraft wrote:

> In article <3CDC6AE3.FCBB6E96@adaworks.com>,
> Richard Riehle  <richard@adaworks.com> wrote:
> >They have recently put up a web site that might be of interest
> >to some of the readers of this forum.    It is an example of how
> >Ada along with GtkAda can be used successfully to develop
> >are really useful application.    If you like it, drop them a note
> >of encouragement.
>
> I see:
>    Javascript is either disabled or not supported by this browser.
>    This page may not appear properly.
> and nothing else.
>
> As far as I'm concerned, this site isn't an example of the successful
> use of anything.

I was able to display the site.   However, I will contact the authors
and let them know that some people are having trouble with it.  The
digital moboard is not about web sites anyway.    They simply put
up a quick web site to provide information about their software.

For those who were able to access the site, the two Naval officers
doing the development are continuing to expand the capabilities of
their software.    If the Navy eventually adopts it on a larger scale,
it will be an excellent Ada project.    Of course, if one of our large
military contractors gets hold of it, it will probably get translated
into C++, the price tag multiplied by several orders of magnitude,
and the entire project washed out to sea in an empty beer bottle.

Richard Riehle

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Adrian Hoe]

"David C. Hoos, Sr." <david.c.hoos.sr@ada95.com> wrote in message news:<mailman.1021202521.21525.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>...
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Matthew Woodcraft" <mattheww@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
> Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
> To: <comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
> Sent: May 12, 2002 5:11 AM
> Subject: Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada
> 
> <snip>
> 
> 
> I can assure you that with a properly enabled browser there is
> plenty to see, although this is not an Open Source project, nor
> is the program available to non-Department of Defense persons.


Why not? I don't see any military confidentiality in this program. If
that's a great software to help safe navigation of vessels, then it
should be available to everyone. After all, it shows that another
successful Ada implementation for safety critical computing. :)

-- 
                                       -- Adrian Hoe
                                       -- http://adrianhoe.com

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Marin David Condic]

There are often restrictions that don't really have anything to do with
security. More like contractural things or other monetary issues.

The "should be available to everyone." part I think kind of implies a
misunderstanding of property rights. Just because I own extremely useful
software that you might want, doesn't exactly mean you have any right to
gain access to it. Any organization might build software that for all sorts
of reasons they don't want circulating out-of-house and while we may see it
and want it, that doesn't mean they ought to give it up.

OTOH, if it doesn't involve any classified research, then it ought to be
duplicatable by an interested party. So I could imagine someone saying "Here
someone created a useful product for internal consumption. I can do the same
thing - maybe even better - and make mine more generally available (for sale
or freeware or any other scheme you like.)" So maybe here's an idea for a
spiffy Open Source project? Or a product for sale to boaters for $29.95 in
the jewel box edition? :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com


"Adrian Hoe" <byhoe@greenlime.com> wrote in message
news:9ff447f2.0205122356.5defa9b@posting.google.com...
>
> Why not? I don't see any military confidentiality in this program. If
> that's a great software to help safe navigation of vessels, then it
> should be available to everyone. After all, it shows that another
> successful Ada implementation for safety critical computing. :)
>

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Ted Dennison]

Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com> wrote in message news:<3CDF22A0.9DD85AD2@adaworks.com>...
> I was able to display the site.   However, I will contact the authors
> and let them know that some people are having trouble with it.  The
> digital moboard is not about web sites anyway.    They simply put
> up a quick web site to provide information about their software.

I definitely feel your pain, in that you were trying to drum up some
supportive comments for this cool project, and instead got mostly
complaints about the website. It greives me that I'm about to add to
it...

I'm not a teacher, so I'm definitely *way* out of line here, but this
is a huge pet peeve of mine. It might be a good idea in the future to
impress upon one's students that HTML is a programming language, and
should be used with the same level of professionalism as any other
language. In particular, web authors should always run their sources
through the W3C validator like they would compile any other sources.
Of course it would be silly to just blame teachers for the general low
quality of web code out there, as most web authors are self-taught.
But from CS students I'd hope to see better, or I have no hope at all.

I could also display the site just fine w/ Mozilla, but I thought I'd
run it through the WC3 validator. First off, it doesn't have the
required doctype header (a common but annoying problem). When I ran it
again using 4.01 transitional (generally the most forgiving setting),
I got about 117 errors. You can see for yourself at
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.digitalmoboard.hssites.com%2F&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=HTML+4.01+Transitional

Again I think its horrible that you came here looking for support, and
instead got slammed about the website. I'll go bludgen myself for it
at lunch...


-- 
T.E.D. 
Home     -  mailto:dennison@telepath.com (Yahoo: Ted_Dennison)
Homepage -  http://www.telepath.com/dennison/Ted/TED.html (down)

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Richard Riehle]

Adrian Hoe wrote:

> "David C. Hoos, Sr." <david.c.hoos.sr@ada95.com> wrote in message
> > I can assure you that with a properly enabled browser there is
> > plenty to see, although this is not an Open Source project, nor
> > is the program available to non-Department of Defense persons.
>
> Why not? I don't see any military confidentiality in this program. If
> that's a great software to help safe navigation of vessels, then it
> should be available to everyone. After all, it shows that another
> successful Ada implementation for safety critical computing. :)

Several points need to be made.   First, at this stage of the project,
it is no longer a student project.   It has moved on to become an
important piece of software that the Navy might be able to incorporate
into more significant shipboard systems.    Already, one trial version
is deployed using a laptop computer on one ship.

Second, the software is being updated to interface with some serious
data acquisition systems that will be in the realm of classified software.

Third, as several contributors to this thread have mentioned, my only
reason for calling attention to the site was to let people know that
there was an active project in Ada that had some promise.   It occurred
to me that some Ada enthusiasts might like to know that much.

Last, I will contact the developers (former students) and suggest to them
that certain parts of their software might be released to the wider
public.   What they do is their call.   They set up their site so other
military (e.g. Navy) developers could participate and contribute.
It was my decision to let the Ada community at large know about this,
not theirs.   I suspect they don't care whether you like it or not since
that was not their original intent.

For those of you who do appreciate knowing that Ada is not entirely
dead and has enthusiasts within our military development community,
thanks for you feedback.  For those of you who are irritated about
some aspect of the site or some part of the decision to restrict access
to some of the software,  there is nothing I can do about it.

Someone once said they found themselves making people angry more
often by trying to something nice than by being crass and cranky.  I
have tried to do something nice and find myself getting beat up by
those who I thought would be pleased by the information.

Richard Riehle

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <3CE1D960.7FE28DFC@adaworks.com>, Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com> writes:

> Someone once said they found themselves making people angry more
> often by trying to something nice than by being crass and cranky.  I
> have tried to do something nice and find myself getting beat up by
> those who I thought would be pleased by the information.

I think you are dwelling on this much longer than appropriate.
Anytime I try a non-working link that someone posts, I indicate
that.  My expectation is less that the original poster will run
off and change the site (often not in their scope of authority)
but more that all those reading in the group who might be "fussy"
will consider the testing aspects when they build their own sites.

I will do this in comp.lang.ada and comp.os.vms (unless someone
else beats me to it).  There are groups where such attention to
correctness would be lost, so I don't bother.

Re: Digital MoBoard in Ada

[Adrian Hoe]

Richard Riehle <richard@adaworks.com> wrote in message news:<3CE1D960.7FE28DFC@adaworks.com>...
> Adrian Hoe wrote:
> 
> > "David C. Hoos, Sr." <david.c.hoos.sr@ada95.com> wrote in message
> > > I can assure you that with a properly enabled browser there is
> > > plenty to see, although this is not an Open Source project, nor
> > > is the program available to non-Department of Defense persons.
> >
> > Why not? I don't see any military confidentiality in this program. If
> > that's a great software to help safe navigation of vessels, then it
> > should be available to everyone. After all, it shows that another
> > successful Ada implementation for safety critical computing. :)
> 
> 
> Someone once said they found themselves making people angry more
> often by trying to something nice than by being crass and cranky.  I
> have tried to do something nice and find myself getting beat up by
> those who I thought would be pleased by the information.



Come on. Nobody's beating up anybody here. They were just expressing
their opinions and so was I.

If the developers of the software simply think that their software
should remain limited to the Military or themselves, so be it. There
is no big deal. I was just expressing my opinion and I just think that
the software could be helpful in sea navigation.

But I think if the Military wants to claim their rights to the
software, the developers will be told not to release any information
on that.

Just my two cents and cheers. :)

-- 
                                       -- Adrian Hoe
                                       -- http://adrianhoe.com