Re: About Ada...

["John Apa" <wolfmountainranch@worldnet.att.net>]

I'm sure sorry if I threatened your belief system, but since I work for the
company that does the work for most of Boeing's AC I think I can safely
make that assertion. The 777, 737, 747-400, V-22, and CH-47 all run on a
diet of Ada. New planes ship with Ada, and the retrofit market is mostly
Ada also. The guis are c or VAPs. We have hundreds of Ada engineers working
on Boeing, and even Airbus, products. So start believing.

I'm currently developing under DO-178B (in Ada95 even!), the FAA's new
standard for flight software. It's very daunting, but most new software has
to be recertified anyway so having it in Ada isn't a big deal. Much of the
earlier (pre-84) SW was written in PL/1 and was ported to Ada. No, not the
best plan, but that's how we got to where we are. Much of the code has been
redesigned since then in Ada.

You sound like you're stating that it'd be harder to certify with Ada than
anything else, that's just plain false. It also sounds like you're stating
that planes are never upgraded to more recent flight management/control
systems, wrong again. Airframes are around for quite a while and in this
market at least they are upgraded to increase safety and efficiency. Both
noble causes.

The FAA and world authorities are coming out with new regs for flying and
that means better avionics are required to keep everyone safe. Something I
strongly believe in when I'm at 30K Feet.

You could have checked these facts too, it's certainly not a secret. I
posted this information informally to show that Ada is not just a military
language. It is being accepted commercially where safety and reliability
are critical.

Please check your beliefs and repost.
John Apa



Arthur Evans Jr <evans@evans.pgh.pa.us> wrote in article
<evans-1712970812050001@ppp21.s8.pgh.net>...
> In article <677hcg$s04@bgtnsc01.worldnet.att.net>,
> "John Apa" <wy.hunter@mailexcite.com> wrote:
> 
> > Ada is used on almost every AC that Boeing delivers, not just the 777.
> 
> Are you sure of this fact?  I find it highly unlikely.  Many aircraft
> Boeing still delivers were developed long before Ada was considered a
> practical solution -- or even before Ada existed.  As rewriting in Ada
> would require new FAA certification, a daunting obstacle, I find it hard
> to believe that anyone would have done such an upgrade.
> 
> Please check your facts and repost.
> 
> Art Evans
> 
> Arthur Evans Jr, PhD
> Ada Consulting
> evans@evans.pgh.pa.us
>