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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,fedc2d05e82c9174 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Richard D Riehle Subject: Re: Ada 83 - Sometimes still chosen Date: 1999/03/24 Message-ID: <7dbcj3$e0l@dfw-ixnews7.ix.netcom.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 458554292 References: <87aex3pue4.fsf@mihalis.ix.netcom.com> <36F913E0.75F51763@lmco.com> Organization: Netcom X-NETCOM-Date: Wed Mar 24 12:57:39 PM CST 1999 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-03-24T12:57:39-06:00 List-Id: In article <36F913E0.75F51763@lmco.com>, "Howard W. LUDWIG" wrote: >We need to be a little more careful in addressing questions of new people. >The answer Chris gave _assumes_ Ada 95. Many people, for whatever reason, >still use Ada 83. Howard's point needs to be emphasized. We still get inquiries for Ada 83 training. Not everyone is making a transition to Ada 95. A few compiler publishers are still selling a remarkable number of licenses for Ada 83 compilers. Why is this? One reason is that Ada 95 is not ported to all the environments used in real applications. One platform that comes to mind is the HP real time computer for which only an Alsys Ada 83 compiler is available. Another is the MIL-STD 1750A, still widely used in space applications and military aircraft. There are, of course, many others. For example, though it may be difficult to believe, there are still designers who specify "older" 8086 and 80286 processors for certain applications. In a few situations, it is a matter of "authorization" to use the new Ada standard. This is a reflection of the wonderful world of bureaucracy where a contract specifies MIL-STD 1815A and the program manager refuses to allow any deviation from the contract. There are some sensible reasons for sticking to Ada 83. Here in Palo Alto there is a company developing long-lived space applications. Ada 83 has been used for satellites that will survive through the first quarter of the next century. The code has been written in Ada 83 and Ada 83 will continue to be used for maintaining that code for the life span of the satellite. Long-lived software is one of Ada's reasons for existence. Robert Dewar often stresses that Ada is intended to me more readable than writeable. In the year 2030, when some programmer is trying to code a program for uplink to a satellite to compensate for a component destroyed by electrostatic discharge, that programmer will need to be able to read the code written in 1997 by some other programmer who is either dead or retired. It will still be Ada 83 code. Richard Riehle richard@adaworks.com http://www.adaworks.com