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=0.1 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,2aae8878a1928f7d,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "W. Wesley Groleau (Wes)" Subject: Re: Ada Tasking Date: 1996/05/02 Message-ID: <9605021821.AA08008@most>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 152641876 sender: Ada programming language comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU mailer: Elm [revision: 70.85] newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-05-02T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------