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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,d89b08801f2aacae X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-05-01 08:35:12 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: jimmaureenrogers@worldnet.att.net (Jim Rogers) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is strong typing worth the cost? Date: 1 May 2002 08:35:12 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: <82347202.0205010735.1d1a66c3@posting.google.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 156.153.254.67 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1020267312 12185 127.0.0.1 (1 May 2002 15:35:12 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 1 May 2002 15:35:12 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:23345 Date: 2002-05-01T15:35:12+00:00 List-Id: dmjones wrote in message news:... > All, > > To summarise, no new research investigating the > cost/benefit of using strong typing has come to light. ... > Me: I am dealing with developers who use a weakly typed > language. To change existing practice I need evidence > that it is worthwhile. The default is weak, I am not recommending > anything unless I have evidence one way or the other. > > Jim Rogers: What are the parameters of cost? > > Me: Money. Developers time (original development, subsequent > maintenance), lost business opportunities being late to market > (finding staff with necessary skills, additional lead time in > getting it 'more right'). Plus lots of other things. Your answers on cost parameters are still a bit vague. "Money" is not a cost parameter. It is a system of paying for those parameters. You are correct in seeing that lost business opportunities produce negative economic results for a company. It appears that you have an underlying assumption is that weak typing is a tool to avoid lost business opportunities. Where is the proof for that assumption? If your business model is one where quality and correctness have no bearing on time to market, then why bother with finding staff with necessary skills? Companies I have worked for in the past have had some additional cost factors to track: * Initial design and development * Maintenance * Warranty Costs (the costs arising from dealing with unhappy customers) * Legal Costs (patents as well as injured party litigation) * Reuse Costs (The costs of designing for reuse as well as the costs of maintaining and re-releasing reused components) * Talent (The cost of finding, training, and retaining staff with necessary skills) * Business Infrastructure (The facilities and tools needed to produce and maintain software) * Marketing/Sales I see no way the choice of languages has a significant impact on Marketing/ Sales. Most sales persons would not know the differences between C, Ada, and Visual Basic. Weak typing is assumed by its proponents to lower the cost of Initial Design and Development as well as Maintenance. The Rational study comparing C and Ada contradicts that assumption. It shows that the cost of using Ada is consistently one half the cost of using C for similar projects. The Rational study tracked development, maintenance, and warranty costs for software. Jim Rogers