Boeing 777 and Ada

Boeing 777 and Ada

[Werner Pachler]

Hello,

a couple of days ago somebody mentioned that most (or all?) of the Boeing's
software is written in Ada. Can somebody provide more details, such as
how much lines of code, how much modules, what systems, what
operating system/hardware used, etc.?
(Or where i can find this information!).

Thank you,
Werner

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[Marin David Condic]

Werner Pachler wrote:
> a couple of days ago somebody mentioned that most (or all?) of the Boeing's
> software is written in Ada. Can somebody provide more details, such as
> how much lines of code, how much modules, what systems, what
> operating system/hardware used, etc.?
> (Or where i can find this information!).
> 
I believe I was the one who mentioned the Boeing 777 - or at least one
of the mentioners. The Ada Information Clearinghouse used to have this
sort of success story on-line, but they went out of business. Check this
URL as a starting point:

http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/AdaIC/

Somewhere on that web page you might find links which will lead you to
the Boeing "Ada Success Story"

See also:

http://www.adahome.com/

Look in the "Ammunition" department. I found these links there:

http://www.adahome.com/Ammo/Success/cranehy.html
http://www.adahome.com/Ammo/Success/sunstra.html

This is probably not the comprehensive story. You may want to try
contacting Boeing directly or finding their web page...

MDC
-- 
Marin David Condic
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
Ph: 561.796.8997         Fx: 561.796.4669
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***

    "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."

        --  Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole
Superieure
            de Guerre.

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[Tucker Taft]

Marin David Condic (condicma@bogon.pwfl.com) wrote:
: Werner Pachler wrote:
: > a couple of days ago somebody mentioned that most (or all?) of the Boeing's
: > software is written in Ada. Can somebody provide more details, such as
: > how much lines of code, how much modules, what systems, what
: > operating system/hardware used, etc.?
: > (Or where i can find this information!).
: > 
: I believe I was the one who mentioned the Boeing 777 - or at least one
: of the mentioners. The Ada Information Clearinghouse used to have this
: sort of success story on-line, but they went out of business. Check this
: URL as a starting point:

: http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/AdaIC/

Please *don't* check this site -- it is pretty much dead now.  
However, the Ada Information Clearinghouse is alive and well
(sponsored by the Ada Resource Association), and they even have 
a decent URL now:

   http://www.adaic.org/

: Somewhere on that web page you might find links which will lead you to
: the Boeing "Ada Success Story"

On this new adaic site, you should have no problem finding success
stories.

: See also:

: http://www.adahome.com/

: Look in the "Ammunition" department. I found these links there:

: http://www.adahome.com/Ammo/Success/cranehy.html
: http://www.adahome.com/Ammo/Success/sunstra.html

: This is probably not the comprehensive story. You may want to try
: contacting Boeing directly or finding their web page...

: MDC
: -- 
: Marin David Condic
: United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
: ...

--
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[Marin David Condic]

Tucker Taft wrote:
> Please *don't* check this site -- it is pretty much dead now.
> However, the Ada Information Clearinghouse is alive and well
> (sponsored by the Ada Resource Association), and they even have
> a decent URL now:
> 
>    http://www.adaic.org/
> 
> : Somewhere on that web page you might find links which will lead you to
> : the Boeing "Ada Success Story"
> 
> On this new adaic site, you should have no problem finding success
> stories.
> 
Thanks for the updated URL. My understanding was that the govt. quit
funding the AdaIC. Who is keeping the organization operating now?

MDC
-- 
Marin David Condic
Real Time & Embedded Systems, Propulsion Systems Analysis
United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines
M/S 731-95, P.O.B. 109600, West Palm Beach, FL, 33410-9600
Ph: 561.796.8997         Fx: 561.796.4669
***To reply, remove "bogon" from the domain name.***

    "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."

        --  Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole
Superieure
            de Guerre.

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[Tucker Taft]

Marin David Condic (condicma@bogon.pwfl.com) wrote:

: Tucker Taft wrote:
: > Please *don't* check this site -- it is pretty much dead now.
: > However, the Ada Information Clearinghouse is alive and well
: > (sponsored by the Ada Resource Association), and they even have
: > a decent URL now:
: > 
: >    http://www.adaic.org/
: > 
: > : Somewhere on that web page you might find links which will lead you to
: > : the Boeing "Ada Success Story"
: > 
: > On this new adaic site, you should have no problem finding success
: > stories.
: > 
: Thanks for the updated URL. My understanding was that the govt. quit
: funding the AdaIC. Who is keeping the organization operating now?

Well, as it says in the parenthetical remark above, the new Ada I/C
web site is sponsored by the Ada Resource Association, an industry 
association consisting of 7 Ada compiler vendors, ACT, Aonix, AverStar, 
DDC-I, Green Hills, OC Systems, and Rational.  

The ARA is also sponsoring (in conjunction with DISA's Center
for Standards) the replacement for the Ada Validation
Organization, now known as the Ada Conformance Assessment Authority (ACAA),
with Randy Brukardt as its very-able technical agent (replacing the
AVO's Dan Lehman, who was also very able ;-).  

Randy, through the ACAA, is in charge of keeping the Ada validation suite 
(now known as the Ada Conformance Assessment Test Suite -- ACATS) in good 
shape, and in overseeing the whole validation process.  Randy has set up
a very convenient web-site for accessing the tests in the validation 
suite, including all distinct versions of test undergoing maintenance,
at: 

   http://www.ocsystems.com/~acats/  

OC Systems is kindly providing the underlying web server for this 
(the Ada I/C web server could not host this directly because of 
security limitations).

And finally, the ARA is also helping to support SIGAda and its
annual technical conference.

Sorry for wandering so far from the original question, but it seemed
like a good place for plugging the new Ada I/C, the ARA, and the ACAA.

: MDC
: -- 
: Marin David Condic
: United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney, Large Military Engines

--
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[David Gillon]

Marin David Condic wrote:
> I believe I was the one who mentioned the Boeing 777 - or at least one
> of the mentioners. The Ada Information Clearinghouse used to have this
> sort of success story on-line
[SNIP]
> This is probably not the comprehensive story. You may want to try
> contacting Boeing directly or finding their web page...

IIRC the AdaIC stuff didn't talk about the major systems on the 777, but
some of the ancillaries. Probably the two major computer systems on the
aircraft, the Aircraft Information Management System and the Primary
Flight Control System (aka fly by wire system) were both developed in
Ada.

There was at least one book written on the 777 development, '21st
Century Jet' (to go with the TV series), how deeply it touched on
software development I'm not certain.

-- 

David Gillon
Avionic Systems
MAv Rochester

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[Chris Warwick]

In article <784jjs$1il$1@fleetstreet.Austria.EU.net>, "Werner Pachler" <werner.pachler@austria.ncr.com> wrote:
>a couple of days ago somebody mentioned that most (or all?) of the Boeing's
>software is written in Ada. Can somebody provide more details, such as
>how much lines of code, how much modules, what systems, what
>operating system/hardware used, etc.?
>(Or where i can find this information!).

There was also an interesting article in CrossTalk on things from a 
programmatic perspective...

http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/1996/jan/Boein777.html

Re: Boeing 777 and Ada

[David Botton]

The article didn't sound so good to me:

However, the complexity of the language caused headaches for other users
who had to work through compiler problems. 

In other cases, development was hampered by problems with compilers and
other support tools.

Their problems revolved around faulty tools (which I have improved) and
untrained developers, not the language, but I'm not sure the average Joe is
going to pick up on that.

You might want to "forget" about this URL : )

DB

Chris Warwick <warwicks@telusplanet.net> wrote in article 
> There was also an interesting article in CrossTalk on things from a 
> programmatic perspective...
> 
> http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/1996/jan/Boein777.html
>