Re: c++ vs ada results

[diederich_r_%ncsd.dnet@GTE.COM (Ray Diederich, 301-294-8400)]

In INFO-ADA Vol.91, #181, pyrdc!grebyn!cbw@uunet.uu.net (Chuck Williams)
writes:

>It shows that c++ is cheaper than Ada.  There are a few other factors
>that need to be examined.  First the results of the study are derrived
>from a small number of c++ project and most of them are in the
>telecommunications domain.  Second, the learning curve to go from c to
>c++ is much shorter and easier than that for COBOL, Fortran, etc. to
>Ada.

and in INFO-ADA, Vol. 91, #183, netcomsv!jls@decwrl.dec.com (Jim Showalter)
replies:

>A much more valid comparison, I think, would be the learning curve to
>go from C to C++ vs the learning curve to go from Pascal to Ada.

I disagree. Sure it's easy to go from Pascal to Ada, but is anyone really
doing any Pascal programming? If the future Ada programmers are the current
Pascal programmers, there won't be many Ada programmers in the future. On
the other hand, the future C++ programmers are _likely_ to be the current C
programmers, and there seems to be an awful lot of C programmers.

So the valid consideration is still between C->C++ and COBOL/FORTRAN->Ada,
and I think that Chuck's original point is that this comparison unfairly
favors C++. The results of the original report are skewed, because it only
shows short-term gains.

Ray Diederich
GTE Government Systems Corporation
Electronic Defense Sector
National Center Systems Organization
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