Re: Ada in Iraq

["John R. Strohm" <strohm@airmail.net>]

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"Frode Tenneb�" <frode@tennebo.com> wrote in message
news:fu0f8b.pir.ln@leia...
> On Saturday 26 April 2003 08:48 John R. Strohm wrote:
>
> > There are three key components of project success: competent
> > management,
> > competent staff, and competent training.
>
> Unfortuantely, the abundance of the former nullify the other two. :(
> Generally speaking... ;-)
>
> > The brake subcontractor for the Boeing 777 did exactly that.  They
> > started
> > behind the power curve, with no previous Ada experience.  They were
> > already well underway with their C implementation, figuring Boeing
> > would give them a
> > waiver.  Instead, Boeing explained to them that they would either do
> > the
> > project in Ada or Boeing would hire someone else who would.  They came
> > in on schedule, under budget, and thoroughly convinced that they'd
> > been seriously wrong in their opposition to Ada.
>
> Actually, I find this extremely interesting. It means that "incompetent"
> programmers can actually produce better by switching from C to Ada
> (provided the verification of the subsystem was accepted). Hence you
> don't need "expert programmers" to produce qualtiy software, just the
> right tool.

Not quite.  The brake contractor had competent engineers; they just didn't
have anyone with any Ada experience.  They had to hit the ground running and
learn fast.  And they did.  They EXPECTED to crash and burn, but they
figured they would be able to blame the crash-and-burn on Ada.  They were
pleasantly surprised when they succeeded instead.

Phil Crosby (of "Quality is Free" fame) once tried to argue with his CEO
when the CEO wanted him to deliver zero-defect products.  The CEO told him,
just as Boeing told the brake subcontractor, "If you can't do it, I'll find
someone who can!"  Phil said his reaction was "Oh, well, when you put it
THAT way..."

> Has this been documented anywere? It seems to be a good success story.

Start at http://www.adaic.com (I think).