Re: Embedded

[Marin David Condic <nobody@noplace.com>]

Interesting in theory, but not very practical. In a commercial venture, 
a LOT more depends on the actual processor chosen than does the language 
  of implementation of the software. For one thing, anything having to 
do with the software implementation is a pure engineering cost whereas 
the microprocessor has both an engineering cost AND a production cost. 
Chip X has no Ada compiler and Chip Y does, but chip X is $0.10 cheaper, 
has a better field reliability history, multiple suppliers, is better 
suited to the existing production line equipment and we're expecting to 
make 10,000,000 units so we'd better be sure there is sufficient supply. 
Would you still choose chip Y because "Ada is Better!"? Are you going to 
save enough on using Ada to justify all of the additional costs and risks?

This is why Ada has an uphill battle in the embedded market. If the 
Adult Supervision around Ada wants to identify that market as the future 
for Ada, then it needs to actually thoroughly understand what the needs 
of that market are and be prepared to address them - or we end up using 
C because that's what we have that we can get the job done with. Ada has 
less than 1% of the embedded system market, so if that's its future, it 
has a really tough row to hoe.

MDC

Jeffrey R. Carter wrote:
> 
> That's the usual way, but that's not necessarily a good way. A better 
> way is to choose a suitable language, then choose the hardware to suit 
> the language choice. Since Ada's about the only thing around that was 
> designed for embedded systems, an unbiased selection of a suitable 
> language will usually choose Ada.

-- 
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Marin David Condic
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