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: f849b,b8d52151b7b306d2
X-Google-Attributes: gidf849b,public
X-Google-Thread: 103376,a00006d3c4735d70
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-12-26 16:42:47 PST
Path: 
 archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-out1.nntp.be!propagator2-sterling!in.nntp.be!news-in.nuthinbutnews.com!cyclone1.gnilink.net!peer01.cox.net!cox.net!p01!lakeread01.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: David Emery <demery@cox.net>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US;
 rv:1.5) Gecko/20030916
X-Accept-Language: en-us, en
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: comp.arch.embedded,comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Certified C compilers for safety-critical embedded systems
References: <3fe00b82.90228601@News.CIS.DFN.DE> <3FE026A8.3CD6A3A@yahoo.com>
 <x0%Db.16$_l6.25998@news.uswest.net>
 <3bf1uvg2ntadvahfud2rg6ujk24sora6gr@4ax.com>
 <2u3auvogde8ktotlaq0ldiaska3g416gus@4ax.com> <bs62ph$giu$1@newshost.mot.com>
 <20619edc.0312221020.3fd1b4ee@posting.google.com>
 <b5feuv06s2nmpakq0o1b7v0kpd450v3eli@4ax.com>
 <20619edc.0312222106.3b369547@posting.google.com>
 <45cs9hAbLc6$EAAx@phaedsys.demon.co.uk>
 <20619edc.0312241511.3a934503@posting.google.com>
 <a0y0eeAmmB7$EA95@phaedsys.demon.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <a0y0eeAmmB7$EA95@phaedsys.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <aA4Hb.15723$Fg.396@lakeread01>
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 19:42:46 -0500
NNTP-Posting-Host: 68.98.140.119
X-Complaints-To: abuse@cox.net
X-Trace: lakeread01 1072485766 68.98.140.119 (Fri, 26 Dec 2003 19:42:46 EST)
NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 19:42:46 EST
Organization: Cox Communications
Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.arch.embedded:6138 comp.lang.ada:3833
Date: 2003-12-26T19:42:46-05:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

Several people have asserted the argument that the large
number of users of a given tool implies quality in that tool.

I don't buy it.  By this logic, MS Windows should be
absolutely flawproof, and the infamous Pentium Divide bug
should never have happened.

No amount of usage can make up for design flaws.  Popularity
is much less about technical qualities than it is about
marketing.  C, Windows, x86 chips have substantial market
share, which is not the same as saying that they have
substantial quality by design.

			dave