Where is Ada at CASEWORLD???

Where is Ada at CASEWORLD???

[Gregory Aharonian]

    I often get email touting how much everyone inside the DoD, their
contractors and Ada vendors love the language, have sweet dreams about it,
and are doing truly innovative things with the language (a.k.a. STARS).
Yet outside the incestuous Tri-Ada show, I never see anyone of these people
put my tax money where their mouth's are.  Case in point - CASE WORLD.
 
I just received a 40 page brochure for the upcoming CASE WORLD exposition
to be held in San Francisco in March 1993, with six sub-conferences: Object
Technology, Business & Software Re-Engineering, Open Systems Development,
Enterprise CASE, PC Developer's, and Client Server.  It is at these meetings
where CASE plans in the non-mandated world are being discussed, planned and
though about, where managers go to get ideas for their futures.
Yet in this forty pages of abstracts to presentations and tutorials, Ada is
mentioned nowhere, and there are few of the traditional Ada vendors/DoD
contractors/DoD offices exhibiting.  A fantastic opportunity to foster
knowledge of and acceptance of Ada in the non-mandated world (planting seeds
which would benefit the mandated world in future years), and no Ada presence.
A fantastic opportunity to show off how Ada leads to solutions with STARS.
Yet, for all of the tax dollars for "new,innovative" STARS tools, there
will be no one from STARS presenting anything to this importance audience,
probably out of embarassment from behind so far behind the commerical vendors
(in terms of capability, support, testing, and acceptance).  IBM, the STARS
prime, will be at CASEWORLD touting their AD/CYCLE solutions, (which as a
14 page magazine insert recently reinforced, there is no role for Ada in
AD/CYCLE).

    Once again, despite the public posturing of the DoD, its contractors and
Ada vendors, no one seems willing to put my tax money where their mouths are
and push Ada at these important non-mandated-world forums.  This apathy will
continue to leave Ada as a niche language in the commercial marketplaces,
driving up the costs of Ada tools and programmers, making it increasingly
difficult for the DoD to meet its defense software needs with shrinking
defense budgets.

    What I find ironic is that Ada probably could live up to the promises
made about it in the mandated world when applied to the non-mandated world.
It seems such an easy sell for the DoD, contractors and vendors to make.
(And if I had the tax dollars to play with, I'd be glad to make the sell).


Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimization

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Greg Aharonian
Source Translation & Optimiztion
P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178