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=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,5ac12f5a60b1bfe X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Marin David Condic, 407.796.8997, M/S 731-93" Subject: Re: Ariane 5 - not an exception? Date: 1996/08/13 Message-ID: <96081315001178@psavax.pwfl.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 174308210 sender: Ada programming language comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU x-vms-to: SMTP%"INFO-ADA@VM1.NODAK.EDU" newsgroups: comp.lang.ada x-vms-cc: CONDIC Date: 1996-08-13T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: ++ robin writes: >---As I stated, a PL/I programmer experienced in real-time >programming, would not have made this stupid mistake. > This still smacks of language bigotry. Why is it that only an experienced PL/I programmer would not make this "mistake"? I've personally seen *lots* of mistakes made by many "experienced" programmers in just about every language there is - including PL/I. Just remember that Ada has built-in runtime checks on conversions and the ability to write interrupt service routines as well. (And we "experienced Ada programmers" know how to use them, too!) The monday morning quarterbacks with 20/20 hindsight binoculars can easily see that the best thing would have been to leave in the checks or write an ISR which saturated the math rather than shut the unit down. But you don't need to be fluent in PL/I to see that. The language the system was programmed in or the language spoken by the developers has nothing to do with the error that occurred. It occurred because there was a conscious decision on someone's part to remove the safety net and to handle all exceptions by shutting down the channel. The designers no doubt made this decision for engineering reasons that are more complex than are outlined in the failure report and certainly had little or nothing at all to do with the language of implementation. And sitting in the back-seat after the crash telling the driver "If *I* had been driving, I'd never have crashed..." is condescending as well as being completely unprovable. MDC Marin David Condic, Senior Computer Engineer ATT: 407.796.8997 M/S 731-96 Technet: 796.8997 Pratt & Whitney, GESP Fax: 407.796.4669 P.O. Box 109600 Internet: CONDICMA@PWFL.COM West Palm Beach, FL 33410-9600 Internet: CONDIC@FLINET.COM =============================================================================== "It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me. But it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important." -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr ===============================================================================