Re: Ada Tasking

["W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)" <wwgrol@PSESERV3.FW.HAC.COM>]

Ken Fowler of MITRE recommended:

> Real-Time Ada Design Methodologies an Their Impact on Performance, by
> Norman R. Howes.....

Ken showed me this paper when I worked with him.  I was surprised when
the paper showed the first example of the "accepted way" of accomplishing
something.  Surprised because it certainly was NOT the accepted way in
my book.  I have always been hostile to complexity that can't be PROVED
necessary to meet requirements.  Yet here was an implementation in which
half of the tasks were nothing more than buffers/FIFOs because "everybody
knows" you can't have critical tasks talking directly to each other.

(I realize that fading memory is probably distorting this a little,
but I think I'm pretty close.  Feel free to straighten me out if I'm
widely off base.)

Then Howes goes through some other options, ending with the simplest one:
NO tasks that do not represent a part of the problem on an abstract level.

I gloated a little when Howes proved that that last one was the most
efficient.  Through my career, I have CONSISTENTLY observed a high
correlation between SIMPLICITY and better computing speed.  Sinc
"everybody knows" (yeah, right) that simplicity also reduces errors,
there's no excuse for clever tricks without proof that they are needed.

--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)                                Office: 219-429-4923
Magnavox - Mail Stop 10-40                               Home: 219-471-7206
Fort Wayne,  IN   46808              elm (Unix): wwgrol@pseserv3.fw.hac.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------