Re: YF-23 first flight 10th anniversary

Re: YF-23 first flight 10th anniversary

[Ken Garlington]

"Bill Baker" <wab@well.com> wrote in message
news:280820001453171408%wab@well.com...
> In article <LHUn5.355$Mw.3418@news2.atl>, Dweezil Dwarftosser
> <wcsys@usa.net> wrote:
>
> >thunder@rmii.com (Ed Rasimus) writes: > Yeff <yeff@spamcop.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> >In article <39a0ebd0.69589589@news.rmi.net>,
> >> > Ed Rasimus<thunder@rmii.com> wrote in
> >> > rec.aviation.military:
> >>
> >> >> Ada (I thought it was an acronym for something--?--)
> >> >
> >> >Go here for information on Ada Lovelace, "Analyst,
> >> >Metaphysician, and Founder of Scientific Computing":
> >>
> >> Ahhaa! I always knew there was something of the metaphysical about
> >> programming. Sorcery by another name. Or, does a "metaphysician" cure
> >> ailing metas?
> >
> >I hate to destroy the basis for this good exchange, but Ada was
> >named after Blaise Pascal's wife, Ada.  (And those who have studied
> >programming languages other than 'C' will note the rich legacy of
> >Pascal typeing in the Ada language.
>
> Er, if you believe Grady Booch almost all aspect of Ada sprang fully
> formed from his head, like Diana from Zeus' split noggin.  I worked for
> Rational Software (Booch was one of the founders) during the heart of
> the ATF development cycle and my first assignment was "read Booch's
> book!"  I was a heavy C/UNIX wonk at the time, but I'd done my share of
> Pascal coding (although a wanky technical writer, I can code).

I can't speak for what Grady Booch said when he was at Rational, but
certainly his 1983 book (Software Engineering with Ada) gives credit where
due to the various players who participated in the development of Ada. My
personal opinion is that Booch was an early and effective advocate for the
language, and his book was used widely in the early days of Ada adoption.

With respect to Ada the person, he says [in his 1983 book]:

"The HOLWG [US DoD joint-service High Order Language Working Group] had
never accepted the name DoD-1 for this new language, since it sounded too
militaristic and thus might have been scorned by the nondefense sector. In
spring 1979, Jack Cooper of the Navy Material Command evolved the perfect
name for the new language: Ada, in honor of Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of
Lovelace, and daughter of the poet Lord Byron [26]. Ada Lovelace (1815-1851)
was a mathematician who worked with Charles Babbage on his difference and
analytic engines; she is noted for her early observations on the potential
power of the computer. In particular, Ada suggested how Babbage's machines
might be programmed much like the Jacquard loom, and for this work she is
considered the world's first programmer. In a formal exchange of letters
between the Deputy Secretary of Defense and Lovelace's heir, the Earl of
Lytton, permission was granted to use the name [27]."

[26] See also D. L. Moore, Ada, Countess of Lovelace, Byron's Legitimate
Daughter, New York: Harper and Row, 1977.
[27] Carlson, Druffel, Fisher and Witaker, "Introducing Ada," p. 265

> I don't
> recall noting threads of Pascal in Ada.

With respect to the relationship of Pascal to Ada, he says:

"The four language designs that were accepted for Phase I included:
  * SofTech (Blue)
  * SRI International (Yellow)
  * Intermetrics (Red)
  * Honeywell/Honeywell Bull (Green)
It is significant to note that each of these contractors used Pascal as the
base language for their design of the new language."

[Green eventually won and became the basis for Ada.]

>
> >Personally, I think that's the
> >problem with Ada: none of the youngsters can deal effectively with
> >the enforced discipline of a strongly-typed language.)
>
> Despite being a big fan of the anarchic freedoms of C/UNIX, I rather
> thought it a shame that Ada got trounced by C++.  I thought the basic
> phenomenological "concepts" underlying Ada--Booch's supposed O-O
> wizardry--were bunk, but the idea of a strongly typed, ground-up new
> language with built-in features for architectural rigor...that I liked
> a lot.  Consistent software architecture makes life much easier for us
> doc. folk.
>
> BTW, Northrup accounted for a huge chunk of our revenue stream during
> that time period.  Since most of it was "black" spending I assume, in
> retrospect, they were using our CASE gear for the B-2 avionics
> development, but I think we may have been the prime Ada development
> platform for the YF-23 team, too.

Lockheed (CA) also had at least one Rational machine that was used for
Dem/Val development, as well, although IIRC the bulk of the work was done
using the VAX/VMS platform and a variety of compiler vendors (Verdix,
TeleSoft, and DEC among them).