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: 103376,2292641be70e477c X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: jerry@jvdsys.nextjk.stuyts.nl (Jerry van Dijk) Subject: Re: Is Ada being used in IS? Date: 1997/07/06 Message-ID: <868214418.38snx@jvdsys.nextjk.stuyts.nl> X-Deja-AN: 255051662 Distribution: world References: <5pilt3$3an$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au> Organization: *JerryWare HQ*, Leiden, Holland Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-07-06T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article <5pilt3$3an$1@goanna.cs.rmit.edu.au> dale@goanna.cs.rmit.EDU.AU writes: >Given that Ada now supports decimal fixed point types, has a package >devoted to interfacing with Cobol and an IS annex, does anyone know >if these features are being used? Well, the decimal fixed point type _is_ one of the main points about the IS annex. And it's probably used somewhere. But that's a somewhat diffent question then the one in the header. First is: what is the IS world ? I spend the last 9 years exclusively in the IS world, mostly banking oriented. During that time I worked for banks, insurance companies, mortgaging firms, stock/option exchanges, brokers, accountants. pension funds, lease companies, traders, intermediaries, etc... What all these companies have in common is that their daily business _RELIES_ on IT. Actually about 70% of the operating cost of a larger bank directly or indirectly relates back to IT ! The second question is, what software are we talking about ? Traditional mainframe batch/transaction systems ? Distributed/CSA systems (ie, branche office support) ? MIS/EIS/DSS stuff ? Interfacing systems (SWIFT and other interbanking systems, ATM's, call centers, ...), Trading and Treasury systems ? Documentary systems ? and so on. Looking at the traditions mainframe systems most people seem to equate with IS software, banking systems: - have long life cycles (usually > 15-20 years) - are medium to large sized (100 - 500 KLOC) - are written in a limited number of languages (Assembler, PL/I, COBOL) - manage very large volumes of business critical data - interact with a lot of other in/external systems - are subject to legal auditing - had initial price tags into the billons of dollars, and require tens of millions a year for maintenance. It will not come as a supprise that a lot of us in this field tend to be a little conservative regarding employing 'new' technologies... (note that as to foreign trading there currently is no alternative to PL/I, since the 18-decimal accuracy of COBOL and Ada are not sufficient in this area). A lot of this software is at this moment being looked at critically: - Are we looking at a situation of diminishing returns ? - The Y2K problems - (in europe) introduction of the Euro - Re-architecting systems to facilitate re-use (usually through a 'software factory' tooling approach) to decrease time-to-market, adapt to a global -24 hr- business enviroment, interface to new consumer technology (home-banking, smartcard, internet, call centers), etc, etc. - How to combine the advantages of a three-tier CSA-like architecture with the low-cost, reliability and security of using terminals. As building this software has required very substantial investments, it is not about to be re-written, especially not by a young upstart as Ada :-) That's why many of us feel that the current push by IBM to save their (for banking purposes excellent) OS/2 platform by jumping off the Java deep end is a _grave_ mistake. However, reliability, quality and confidentiality also are a major part of the banking business software processes (when was the last time _you_ re-calculated your mortgage statement ? :-) so Ada does seem a natural fit. Then, on the other side, there are the popular desktop application. Within the context of a bank, they are by itself not very interesting since they are usually very small (< 1 millon $ development costs), have limited business impact, and a small live cycle (1-3 yr, 5 at most). So, currently tools like Powerbuilder, Delphi, Visual Basic, etc, are popular implementation devices. However, the number of them seems to be growing at a rabbits rate ("I'm not going to wait for a formal implementation") so attention is focussing here too. Questions: - Where are Ada's best changes for introduction into this industry ? - Is there sufficient support for it (people, tools, etc) - How to overcome the negative image ("Ada, that's an obscure language of which the NRC study said it shouldn't be used for financial systems" to quote a recent remark by an IT manager of a large bank) - What can _WE_ do ? Before answering those questions (and turning this post into a full size magazine article on IS strategy :-) I wonder if there is any real interest in it here on C.L.A. or the Ada community at large ? I admit I am often disturbed by seeing my choosen field of endevour being put down with a 'shudder, Cobol' attitude. Not only does this attitude completely ignore a technical field as facinating as, say, embedded systems enginering (and I have spend 8 years as a naval engineer in aeronautics, so I know what I am talking about here), which has a very large impact on our global society, it is also a insult to the thousands of capable software engineers working very hard in this industry. Dale, thanks for your question, I did have to get this out of my system sometime -- -- Jerry van Dijk | Leiden, Holland -- Consultant | Team Ada -- Ordina Finance | jdijk@acm.org