X/Ada Binding User Questionnaire

X/Ada Binding User Questionnaire

[Michele L. Kee, AdaIC]

The Ada Information Clearinghouse is posting this survey for GHG
Corporation.  For more information, contact:

	ghg!xada@hounix.UUCP or	atejani@hounix.UUCP

	or send mail to:

	Attn: X/Ada Study Team
	GHG Corporation
	1300 Hercules Drive, Suite 111
	Houston, Texas 77058

	Fax number:	(713) 488-1838
	Phone:		(713) 488-8806



***************************************************************************** 


		   X/Ada Binding User Questionnaire
  
Purpose:
  
Ada bindings to the X Window System are a common topic of discussion
within the Ada Community.  There is not, however, a clear consensus on
the best approach to providing the X Window capabilities within an Ada
programming environment. Moreover there is not a source of reference
that explains all the options that are available to an Ada programmer
and their relative merits.
  
GHG Corporation has been requested by NASA Johnson Space Center (under
contract #NAS-9-17980, with the Flight Data Systems Division
Engineering Directorate) to conduct an in-depth analysis of the Ada/X
issue.	GHG has developed an in-house Ada/X binding and so has the
experience required to conduct such a study.  The study team will do a
hands-on evaluation of every tool that provides an Ada programmer with
access to X Window capabilities.  Contributions to this effort are
encouraged in terms of products, Ada code, suggestions, contacts,
experience, or any other relevant piece of information.	 In particular
the study team wants to understand what the Ada community has, knows,
or needs with regard to Ada and X.
  
In addition to evaluating approaches to the Ada/X interface, the study
will summarize the Ada community's Ada/X needs and current experience.
Ada project participants who are using or plan to use X are invited to
contribute to the study through this questionnaire.  Experience from
real projects will bring the study to life and add to the depth of
understanding.
  
Questionnaire:
  
All individual questionnaire responses will be kept confidential.  The
distributed report will contain information about the products
evaluated and summarized results of the questionnaire, unless
permission is otherwise requested.  Personal data is requested so that
we can contact you for follow up, if need be, and to provide
demographic information in the report.	If you feel uncomfortable
responding to a particular question, or cannot respond because the
information is proprietary or confidential, then please indicate that
rather than leaving a question blank.

Although the questionnaire is lengthy, we would like you to answer as
many questions as possible so that we can really assimilate your
experience and provide a better basis for the study results.  Wherever
possible we have tried to make the questions multiple choice.  If in
the free format section you do not have enough space please attach
additional sheets of paper.  The questionnaire is in three parts.
  
1.  Information about you (name, organization, background, etc.)  

2.  Information about the project in general

3.  Information on the particular X/Ada binding or tool that was used.
  
If you worked on multiple X/Ada projects we would appreciate it if you
would fill out the project and X/Ada binding data once for each
project.

We are interested in all projects whether they were successful or even
if they failed, if they changed from Ada to C because of X problems,
or if a waiver was granted.  We would like to receive from users any
code segments or descriptions of problems which caused them
significant difficulty.	 We would also like to know if there were any
unresolved problems or if there were any segments that could not be
coded at all.  Those who participate in the survey will receive
information on how to obtain a copy of the final report.

Your response is important to the success of this study.  All
questionnaires need to be returned by November 30th, 1991.  You may
either mail or fax your response to X/Ada Binding Study Team:

	ghg!xada@hounix.UUCP
		OR
	atejani@hounix.UUCP
		OR

	Mail to:

	Attn: X/Ada Study Team
	GHG Corporation
	1300 Hercules Drive, Suite 111
	Houston, Texas 77058

	Fax number:	(713) 488-1838
	Phone:		(713) 488-8806


			      User Data
			      ---------

Name:
Organization:
Position:
Address:
Telephone:				Fax:
E-mail:

Are you willing to participate in follow-up conversations if required?
[Yes/No]: 

Experience:

		Years  /  Months
      C:
      X:
      Ada:
      X/Ada:


Number of years in software development (Yrs/Mths):


Education Background (Degree(s) /Year / Major(s)):



Position (select which best describes your position, mark with 'X')

	[ ]  Program Manager		[ ]  Program Manager
	[ ]  Project Manager		[ ]  Chief Programmer
	[ ]  Senior Software Engineer	[ ]  Lead Engineer
	[ ]  Software Engineer		[ ]  Senior Programmer
	[ ]  Programmer			[ ]  Staff Advisor
	[ ]  Task Lead			[ ]  Trainer/Instructor
	[ ]  Systems Analyst
	[ ]  Technical Specialist (specify area):
	[ ]  Research Scientist (specify area):
	[ ]  Other (please specify):



		     Project General Information
     (Please copy and repeat if you worked on multiple projects)
     -----------------------------------------------------------

1.  Project name on which X/Ada was used, if not confidential?


Project Description
- - - -------------------

2.  Brief description of project (about a paragraph) If the project was
    confidential or classified can you give us a feel for the general
    classification.


3.  Project Sponsor (select one)

	Government Agency 

	  [ ] NASA		[ ] DARPA	[ ] STARS
	  [ ] Army		[ ] Navy	[ ] Air Force
	  [ ] CIA		[ ] FBI		[ ] NSA
	  [ ] Other(specify):
	  [ ] Specify site:

	[ ] Commercial		[ ] Company Sponsored


4.  Project Industrial area or discipline?
    (e.g., Aerospace, Petrochemical, Banking, etc.)


5.  Project Descriptors (select as many as are applicable)

	[ ] Real-time		[ ] Distributed		[ ] Concurrent 
	[ ] Data intensive	[ ] Highly interactive	[ ] Graphical
	[ ] Text only		[ ] Tied to a database	[ ] Embedded
	[ ] AI			[ ] Other(specify):

6.  Was X required/mandated for the project? [Yes/No]:
	If yes by whom?
	If yes, did you request a waiver? [Yes/No]:
	Was the waiver approved? [Yes/No]:


7.  Was Ada required/mandated for the project? [Yes/No]:
	If yes by whom?
	If yes, did you request a waiver? [Yes/No]:
	Was the waiver approved? [Yes/No]:


8.  If X and Ada were not mandated why did you select X and Ada?
    (e.g., Part of your company standards, good software engineering?)



9.  Did the project run to completion? [Yes/No]:


10. Was the project deemed to be successful? [Yes/No]:


11. Project Start Date (mm/dd/yy):


12. Project Completion (actual or estimated) Date (mm/dd/yy):


13. Project Size (actual or estimated if still under development)
	LOC:				Executable:
	Number of People:		Run-time Image:


14. Was a methodology used for design and development? [Yes/No]:
	If yes, which methodology was it (e.g., Ward/Mellor Real-Time
	Structured Analysis with modifications, ESML,Coad/Yourdon,
	Shlaer/Mellor.)


15. Did the project use Ada Tasking? [Yes/No]:
    If yes, did the tasks communicate with X directly or was there a
    single task or tasks whose purpose was to handle and coordinate the
    communication with X?

	[ ] multiple tasks communicating to X directly
	[ ] separate task to handle communication

16. Was the project required to run on multiple platforms
    (portability)?  [Yes/No]:


17. Target Platform(s)/Operating System (list all applicable)
    (e.g.,Sun SPARC 2GS/SunOS 4) :


19. Development Platform(s)/Operating System (list all applicable):


20. Was the project required to support multiple operating system
    versions (portability)? [Yes/No]:


21. Any additional constraints on the project?



		   X/Ada Binding or Tool Specifics
		   -------------------------------

1.  Compiler and X/Ada Binding or Tool used (Specify Vendor name,
    version and platform for both the Compiler and the Tool)
    (Compiler Vendor/Platform : X/Ada Binding or Tool)



2.  Which widget set or User Interface Management System (UIMS) did
    you use?

	[ ] Motif		[ ] Athena	[ ] OPEN LOOK
	[ ] TAE+		[ ] SAMMI
	[ ] Other(specify):

3.  Any difficulties with this particular widget set? [Yes/No]:
	If yes, please elaborate: (also consider sending us your
	really hard problems!)


4.  Did you have to develop any custom widgets? [Yes/No]:
	If yes, were they developed in C or Ada?:
	If you developed widgets please describe them


5.  Could you have done the project without widget development? [Yes/No]:


6.  Were you able to achieve your user interface goals with the tool
    you selected? [Yes/No]:


7.  Did you find the tool easy to use (indicate difficulty)?


      |---------------|----------------|---------------|----------------|
 very easy to use		       ok		      very hard to use


8.  Were you able to choose the X/Ada binding solution you used? [Yes/No]:
	If yes, did you evaluate other toolkits and which ones? [Yes/No]:


9.  What was the rational for your X/Ada binding choice?  (e.g., it
    was the one that came with the compiler, it was a hardware constraint)



10. List any shortcomings or limitations you found with the tool
    (e.g., it was tied to the compiler or platform, it did not support a
    particular feature)



11. If possible explain how you worked around the above limitations?
	If it was particularly difficult would you share it so others
	could benefit? [Yes/No]:


12. Did you have to compromise your X goals because of the tool? [Yes/No]:
	If yes please elaborate:


13. Did you have to compromise your Ada style to use the tool? [Yes/No]:
	If yes please elaborate:


14. Did you develop an in-house solution for the X/Ada Binding? [Yes/No]:
	Describe the overall approach used:


15. Would you be willing to let us try your in-house solution with our
    X/Ada test cases?

	[ ] Yes		[ ] No		[ ] Not Applicable


16. If no, would you be willing to run our test cases and report back
    results? [Yes/No]:
	If no, would you be willing to provide some additional data or
	documentation? [Yes/No]:


17. If you had to redo the project would you adopt the same approach
    to the X/Ada Binding? [Yes/No]:
	If no, what would you change?


18. Would you like to add any additional comments?

Congratulations!!  You made it to the end! You have made a significant
contribution to the NASA X/Ada study and those whose use the report
will appreciate it.  Thank you!!




ghg!xada@hounix.UUCP
	OR
atejani@hounix.UUCP
	OR

Mail to:

Attn: X/Ada Study Team
GHG Corporation
1300 Hercules Drive, Suite 111
Houston, Texas 77058

Fax number:	(713) 488-1838
Phone:		(713) 488-8806