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: 11232c,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,25d5234e7b6ca361 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: fdb77,5f529c91be2ac930 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-02-27 15:52:21 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: xanthian@well.com (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.object,comp.lang.ada,misc.misc Subject: Re: Ada versus language-X and "getting real work done" (was): 64 bit addressing and OOP Date: 27 Feb 2003 15:52:21 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: References: <3E4E8F8C.9C096985@adaworks.com> <9fa75d42.0302250710.5549baaf@posting.google.com> <3E5C7033.BD5DC462@adaworks.com> <9fa75d42.0302260618.7506cba7@posting.google.com> <3E5CF5C6.84822F57@adaworks.com> <9fa75d42.0302270726.665fee77@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.8.249.134 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1046389941 4647 127.0.0.1 (27 Feb 2003 23:52:21 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Feb 2003 23:52:21 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.java.advocacy:59434 comp.object:58561 comp.lang.ada:34694 misc.misc:12203 Date: 2003-02-27T23:52:21+00:00 List-Id: softeng3456@netscape.net (soft-eng) wrote: > Now wait a minute, I thought the "exemption" system > was fully authorized and legal. Why should anybody > be court-martialed for taking advantage of > a feature of the system? Well, in the case of a former DoD contract employer shop of mine, because they deliberately, repeatedly, and with malice aforethought _created_ the situation that _required_ the exemption, specifically _for the purpose of_ being eligible for the exemption, when the directive and intention was that the exemptions be based on unavoidable hardship, and short term while affirmative steps were taken to overcome the reasons an exemption was needed. In the case, they put out requests for proposal for supercomputers for which no Ada compilers were then available, knowing they were required to move to Ada programming, and failed to include in those RFPs the requirement, roughly a 10% add-on cost, that the supercomputer be delivered with a working Ada compiler installed. They did this, and bragged internally on having done this, specifically to escape having to convert a shop of die-hard Fortran programmers to be Ada programmers. Their exemption requests were of course granted, there were indeed no Ada compilers for the now-installed computers their work required. The phrase "taking advantage of" answers your own question. When I conveyed this scam-system to Emmett Paige, his investigation was so clumsy I was quickly discovered and equally quickly terminated by the furious and embarrassed local O6 commanding officer who had been perpetrating the hoax: 24 hours after my email was sent, I was unemployed. There were no whistle-blower protections in those days, and interest in the well being of the informant was naturally absent. xanthian, who wrote the only Ada code ever used in that shop, up to then, so far as I know.