Re: Office Naval Research seemingly not interested in Ada

[world!srctran@uunet.uu.net (Gregory Aharonian)]

>Bottom line:  ONR/ARPA/DoD labs engage in research -- personal preference
>is as good a criteria as any for language selection in many research
>projects.  Who cares?  The result of the research independent of these
>"details" is the important part.

No! No! No!  The Ada Mandate applies to all DoD software activities,
INCLUDING RESEARCH.  A stupid application of the Mandate, but the Mandate
is a law of the land.  Personal preference is irrelevant, under the current
terms of the Mandate.  If you want a more realistic approach, as advocated
by Admiral Tuttle, fine, have Congress pass a new version of the Mandate
with all of these exceptions explicitly worded.

But until then, any DoD software research not done in Ada (for any reason
other than cost-effectiveness which only occasionally is true) is a 
violation of a federal law.  This makes the DoD the largest criminal
(in the misdemeanor sense) organization in the country, based on current
non-Ada use.

It amazes me the number of uniform-types inside the DoD who have no idea
that the Mandate applies to everything, including research and MIS stuff.
I am constantly getting private email from uniform-types 'correcting' me
on this issue.  An educational campaign is needed real soon.
-- 
**************************************************************************
 Greg Aharonian
 Source Translation & Optimization
 P.O. Box 404, Belmont, MA 02178