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=0.7 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_DATE, MSGID_SHORT,REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pt.cs.cmu.edu!sei!rsd From: rsd@sei.cmu.edu (Richard S D'Ippolito) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Use of "C/Ada" -- the C dialect of Ada Message-ID: <6140@ae.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 19 Feb 90 16:46:04 GMT References: <18340.635014153@chance> Reply-To: rsd@sei.cmu.edu (Richard S D'Ippolito) Organization: Software Engineering Institute, Pittsburgh, PA List-Id: In article <18340.635014153@chance> munck@mwunix.mitre.org writes: > >We've all run into "FORTRAN/Ada" or "JOVIAL/Ada" in which FORTRAN or >JOVIAL programmers forced to use Ada continue to write their "native >language" but using the Ada equivalent and syntax. It's usually >worth the derision we give it. > >HOWEVER, I've run into a project of significant importance and cost in >which the grunt programmers simply cannot, for reasons of contracting, >schedule, and cost, be taught Ada the way we like to do it: teaching >software engineering principles and incidentally using Ada. We're stuck >with C programmers and no option if the development schedule is to be >met. The system is one that will undergo significant updating during >its entire lifetime, maybe changing 25% of the code every year for >several decades AFTER INITIAL DELIVERY. Forget the languages -- plug in any two of your choice. I can't conceive that under these circumstances that there will be a good design, that is, one allowing an economic change of 25% of it every year. The likelihood of engineering a good product under such circumstances as you describe seems quite remote, if not entirely ludicrous. No SPO with his head on should have ever contracted for such a thing, and no contractor in an ethical mind should have ever accepted! However, I'm willing (and hopeful, as this seems like a waste of taxpayer money) to be convinced that I'm the one who is crazy. Is there something you haven't told us? Rich -- Hitting baseballs and writing software are two professions where you can become a millionare with a 75% performance failure rate. rsd@sei.cmu.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------