ESP

ESP

[Ken Garlington]

Just got the December issue of Embedded Systems Programming. The
feature article this month is a Richard Riehle article on Ada.
I liked the article very much, but I have to ask:

  * Who's this PL/I programmer discussed in the article?

  * Did there _have_ to be a statement on how Ada was inappropriate
    for 8-bit controllers? That pretty much killed any desire on
    my part to try to build one.

  * Why can "Ada" be spelled correctly everywhere but on the front
    cover, where it's spelled "ADA"?

It's not there now, but eventually the article should be at
http://www.embedded.com, where back issues of ESP are kept.

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Re: ESP

[Richard Riehle]

Since I am the culprit who wrote the article, I suppose it is my
responsibility to respond.  

On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Ken Garlington wrote:

> Just got the December issue of Embedded Systems Programming. The
> feature article this month is a Richard Riehle article on Ada.
> I liked the article very much, but I have to ask:

  Glad you enjoye most of the article, Ken. I have been getting pretty
  good email from readers, including non-DoD readers who are interested
  in looking in to Ada.  

>   * Who's this PL/I programmer discussed in the article?

  You may recall that there was a contibutor to the thread on the
  Ariane incident who kept insisting that everything would have been
  just fine if the software had been programmed in PL/I instead of
  Ada.  And in those PL/I posts that contibutor made recurring 
  references to audit trails and printed reports.  As you and I know,
  embedded space systems rarely have any attached printers.

>   * Did there _have_ to be a statement on how Ada was inappropriate
>     for 8-bit controllers? That pretty much killed any desire on
>     my part to try to build one.

  I specifically mentioned the 8051 8-bit microcontroller. My comments
  should not be construed to mean that no eight-bit microcontroller
  is appropriate for Ada.  And I hope to be proven wrong by my belief
  that the 8051 is inappropriate for Ada.  If  I am wrong, it will be
  more to my delight than to my dismay.  

  When I first agreed to do the article, I also agreed to indicate where
  I thought Ada was unsuited as a language as well as well as where it
  was well-suited.  The article is weighted far more heavily on the
  virtues of Ada than on its liabilities.  I hope this one small 
  paragraph does not suggest abrogation of the use of Ada in those many
  applications where it is undeniably the best choice.  

  I welcome Ada enthusiasts to prove me wrong on the 8051, and will 
  publish an article on the Ada  8051 compiler as soon as it is ready.

>   * Why can "Ada" be spelled correctly everywhere but on the front
>     cover, where it's spelled "ADA"?

  Sigh. I too was somewhat disappointed at the way it appeared on the
  cover.  I wrote the text and approved the typset version of the
  article.  The cover was designed by an artist.  Artists like to
  see the symmetry of their work.  If ESP accepts another article for
  next year's Tri-Ada issue, I will remind them of the spelling format
  customarily used for Ada.

> It's not there now, but eventually the article should be at
> http://www.embedded.com, where back issues of ESP are kept.

  Yes, I believe it will be added eventually.

  Thanks for your comments, Ken.  I do try to write these articles so
  they will be informative and useful.  Sometimes I fall short of my
  own expectations -- disappoint myself -- but I am trying to do my
  part to enlighten the not-yet-Ada-aware software community regarding
  some of Ada's benefits.

  Richard Riehle
  richard@adaworks.com

  AdaWorks Software Engineering
  2555 Park Boulevard
  Suite 30
  Palo Alto, CA  94306
  (415) 328-1815
   FAX  328-1112

Re: ESP

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <Pine.GSO.3.95.961214131401.15507A-100000@nunic.nu.edu>, Richard Riehle <rriehle@nunic.nu.edu> writes:

>   You may recall that there was a contibutor to the thread on the
>   Ariane incident who kept insisting that everything would have been
>   just fine if the software had been programmed in PL/I instead of
>   Ada.  And in those PL/I posts that contibutor made recurring 
>   references to audit trails and printed reports.  As you and I know,
>   embedded space systems rarely have any attached printers.

If someone had included a printer on the Ariane :-),
would it have been intact after the incident ?

Larry Kilgallen

Re: ESP

[Andrew Lynch]

Larry Kilgallen wrote:
> In article <Pine.GSO.3.95.961214131401.15507A-100000@nunic.nu.edu>, Richard Riehle <rriehle@nunic.nu.edu> writes:
> >   As you and I know,
> >   embedded space systems rarely have any attached printers.
> 
> If someone had included a printer on the Ariane :-),
> would it have been intact after the incident ?

My mind is making up weird images of trails of fanfold paper floating
in the sky...

Andrew.

Re: ESP

[Eric Miller]

Richard Riehle wrote:
> > It's not there now, but eventually the article should be at
> > http://www.embedded.com, where back issues of ESP are kept.
> 
>   Yes, I believe it will be added eventually.

It's there: <http://www.embedded.com/feat1296.htm>

Re: ESP

[Robert I. Eachus]

In article <1996Dec14.191445.1@eisner> kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen) writes:

 > If someone had included a printer on the Ariane :-),
 > would it have been intact after the incident ?

  The right question is "Would they have still sent the data down the
bus to the engine controller?"

  Remember that the final nail in the coffin was that the telemetry
data was sent over the same bus as the commands to the point the
engines, and that this is what actually caused the rocket to go out of
control. 



--

					Robert I. Eachus

with Standard_Disclaimer;
use  Standard_Disclaimer;
function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...

Re: ESP

[Ken Garlington]

Robert I. Eachus wrote:
> 
> In article <1996Dec14.191445.1@eisner> kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen) writes:
> 
>  > If someone had included a printer on the Ariane :-),
>  > would it have been intact after the incident ?
> 
>   The right question is "Would they have still sent the data down the
> bus to the engine controller?"
> 
>   Remember that the final nail in the coffin was that the telemetry
> data was sent over the same bus as the commands to the point the
> engines, and that this is what actually caused the rocket to go out of
> control.

Well, sorta... if both INUs had just turned off their remote terminals,
for example, I don't know if the flight control would have had a backup
attitude source. It still might have crashed.
to maintain control.

> 
> --
> 
>                                         Robert I. Eachus
> 
> with Standard_Disclaimer;
> use  Standard_Disclaimer;
> function Message (Text: in Clever_Ideas) return Better_Ideas is...

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