Re: Realtime/embedded project to help with employment.

["Warren W. Gay VE3WWG" <ve3wwg@cogeco.ca>]

Stephane Richard wrote:
...
> Seems to be enough time has been spent, in ada and in most other languages,
> making the computer do what we dotn want to....(calculations, data
> processing, repetitive tasks of all kinds whether in database related or non
> related fields).... I think it's time to really start "creating new fields"
> of applications.  New generations of computing technologies....once that
> haven't been touched before, or not as much as they should have.  Could be
> any type of project, from virtual reality (I'm not saying to make our own 3D
> Studio Max here, I'm saying making a full real time virtual reality OS, one
> in which you can do things like walk through your files for example...really
> innovative stuff like that is what I'm suggesting.  this is but an example
> of so many things that could be done, and I know Ada is just the language to
> do it in :-)......sure this one is a big project, but it can definitaly be
> cut done to reaonable sized modules that can be humanly maintainted :-).

I don't believe we have to "create new fields" per say, because a
number of the existing (probably more mundane ones) have yet
to be adequately "solved".

Looking at some non-exhaustive needs/wants together, we have :

   1. GUI
   2. Database
   3. Net enabled

Individually, I think we can say these have been conquered. But
why then is software development so:

   - slow to develop ?
   - costly to create ?
   - unreliable in operation ?
   - hackable (unsafe) on the net ?

I firmly believe that this integrated side
of the problem remains relatively
unsolved (there have been products/attempts
to addressing these, but none seem to have
emerged a "generally accepted solution").

While you may not be able to solve this problem
for everyone, but it should be possible to look
at the SOHO situation (for example) and produce
a "programming environment" that supports the above,
in an integrated but rapid way, with improved safety
and protection from hacks (from the net enabled
apps).

Other "markets" could be similarly addressed.

In general, it is not yet easy enough to create new software
(at least beyond a simple teletype application).

As a point of comparison, VB was one "attempt" at
addressing this need, but falls far short on
a number of levels. Some of which includes:

   - database : poor/non-existant support of NULL values
   - database/GUI connection : widgets (like date) don't
     support NULL values,
   - database operations require clumsy/complex object
     interactions (COM/DCOM) objects etc.
   - VB code itself is ghastly at the safety/reliability level
     due to its check at runtime approach (vs Ada95)

This is all tip of the iceberg, but I believe there is ample
opportunity just making life easier for programmers alone,
not to mention for the "pseudo programmer SOHO person".

Just my $0.02 added. ;-)
-- 
Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3wwg