From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,d89b08801f2aacae X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-04-29 11:38:00 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!kibo.news.demon.net!demon!news5-gui.server.ntli.net!ntli.net!news8-gui.server.ntli.net.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Is strong typing worth the cost? From: dmjones References: <4519e058.0204290722.2189008@posting.google.com> Organization: Knowledge Software Message-ID: User-Agent: Xnews/L5 Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 18:37:56 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.252.22.178 X-Complaints-To: abuse@ntlworld.com X-Trace: news8-gui.server.ntli.net 1020105476 62.252.22.178 (Mon, 29 Apr 2002 19:37:56 BST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 19:37:56 BST Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:23228 Date: 2002-04-29T18:37:56+00:00 List-Id: Ted, >> I have been trying to locate evidence that the cost of the use >> of strong typing is repaid by a greater benefit. > > There was a study done on compiler software by Rational. It showed > something like 2x productivity for Ada over C, with the credit being > laid at least partially on Ada's strong typing. It should be available > somewhere on their website, but you'll probably have to search for it. Thanks for the reference. But I my interest is purely in the advantages of strong typing. Language comparison is too broad an issue. The experiment I had in mind was two set of subjects, all working on the same Ada program. However, one set of subjects is not allowed to use subranges or subtypes. All objects holding integer values have integer type. The other set of subjects would be able to create as many different integer types as they liked. How long would each group of subjects take to complete their tasks, and what would down stream maintenance costs be (for programs created by each set of subjects) ?