Re: Legislative Mandate for Ada

[bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson)]

In article <2455@sparko.gwu.edu> mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu () writes:
>In article <9700@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) writes:

>>If the percentage doesn't approach 100 fast enough then they will mandate
>>mindless translations.
>Oh, Lord - I hope not! Seriously, I don't have a lot of inside information,
>but I really don't think this is what it's about. Do you have any serious
>info suggesting this mindlessness? (I realize that we're all cynics in this
>business, but fact and cynicism shouldn't be confused. Got facts?)

Nope, just fears.  I sat in a meeting where an individual (working in
one of the military service DoD secretariets) insisted that any university
that got federal money (ROTC, research grants, etc.) should be told to teach 
Ada or have their money taken away.  Luckily, no one took him too seriously,
but his position was such that many people have to take him seriously (and
he advises other more senior people on technical issues, such as Ada).

I figure he was just testing out the idea by presenting it to the group. The
fact that he would seriously press the idea suggested to me that he was
more focused on "getting people to use Ada" as an end unto itself rather
than improving software engineering practices.

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