Re: Proficiency in Ada

[jm59@prism.gatech.EDU (MILLS,JOHN M.)]

Hi, Mike --
 
 (maybe someday we'll meet face to face .. anyway...)
 
In article <1993Apr4.032918.783@seas.gwu.edu> you write:
>In article <46we2B1w165w@netlink.cts.com> mshapiro@netlink.cts.com (Michael Shapiro) writes:
>>
>>There's a difference between learning a language enough to use it and 
>>becoming extremely proficient in it.  An experienced programmer should be 
>> [ Ada proficiency levels and references deleted ]

>This is NOT a useful figure of merit unless it is given together with similar
>figures for other languages. Do we know how many months, years, or projects
>are required before a programmer is proficient in, say, Fortran or C,
>sufficiently to write the kind of robust and maintainable systems we all
>desire?
 
I'm glad you mentioned it.  I was tracking this at about 0.25 concentration
level, and had decided that, given the high level of understanding required
of Ada programmers by all c.l.ada correspondents [8*>), there is probably
(by that measure) a critical shortage of competent programmers in _all_
languages.

As a mechanical engineer who has used software/firmware as parts of
controller designs for lo these past 24 years, I've seen a certain number
of well trained programmers who can run rings around me in clear, elegant
code and versatile data structures, but who clutch completely when they
must respond to asynchronous reality, or reach compromises with the electronic
designers for the simplest or most robust overall system design.  If there
were a way to teach those skills (not as replacements, but as realities and
perspectives), it would be terrific.  Naturally there are corresponding
lacunae in all our views, but the most successful and rewarding projects
I've worked on benefited from a spirit of constructive challenge between
the various disciplines: "I'll bet I can stabilize that drift in the
firmware before you can redesign the analog board ..."  I made it, but was
never able to sell them my wonderful digital rate-loop; maybe that wasn't
so bad, as the pore 'lil 8080 was already _gasping_ along.  The other side
is, " Just _one_ more shift register, and I can do wonders!  Please?
PLEASE!"

Software is a wonderfully abstract, maleable medium, but virtual reality
is no substitute for the real thing.

.. Now, if I can just get down off my hobbyhorse .. @#$%!! .. stuck in the
saddle again!

Regards --jmm--

-- 
John M. Mills, SRE; Georgia Tech/GTRI/TSDL, Atlanta, GA 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!jm59
Internet: john.m.mills@gtri.gatech.edu
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