Re: "Ada and C++", from comp.software-eng

[abdlm@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov]

Erik Naggum writes

>>Jim, I suggest you relax a bit.
>>
>>As to the fourth claim of yours, you could try getting in touch with
>>Bjarne Stroustrup and ask him about places it's being used.  Last time
>>I heard, central telephone switching gear (the size of 5ESS) is coded
>>in C++.  After all, this _is_ AT&T...  These animals implement CCITT
>>Signalling System number 7.  The specs are 1500 (A-sized) pages of
>>gory details and 500 pages of verification and validation suites.  I
>>posted the table of contents of SS7 to comp.std.internat some time
>>ago.


Wasn't this the system (or one similar to it) that took out the whole east 
coast of the U.S. with a pointer bug last year. Chalk up another victory for
the power of pointers and C++. With so much of the world economy riding on
the telecomunications networks, wouldn't it make sense to build these 
systems with tools (read languages) that were designed for reals time systems.

Any cost sagings AT&T realized by using their in house language (C++,C) which 
might or might not be faster than Ada were probably lost in the first few hours 
of the service outage. That was an expensive lesson.

-D. Miller, Goddard robotics Laboratory.
--My opinions arn't my employers.