Re: Critique of Ariane 5 paper (finally!)

[dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Bertrand said

<<OK, finally things are clear. When everything else fails, resort
to questioning the other person's integrity: I have a vested
interest in seeing Eiffel succeed.>>

I think you missed my point. Everyone knows that you have a vested
interest in seeing Eiffel succeed. Everyone knows that I have a vested
interest in seeing Ada succeed. Nothing wrong with either situation,
and it does not damage our integrity that we have these vested interests.

What I was saying is that in this situation you have to be very careful
that claims you make are solidly based, and objectively supportable.
Personally I find people who make puffed claims for Ada a real menace,
and I don't think it helps Ada one bit.

In this case, I agree that DBC would have been sufficient, if employed
in certain ways, to avoid the Ariane problem, but then so would a zillion
other reasonable approaches.

Arguing the benefits of DBC with regard to Ariane is perfectly legitimate.
To say, or even vaguely imply, that it is a necessary part of any approach
that could have solved this problem is so obviously "advertising puffery"
[i.e. advocacy for a technology without any basis in fact] that it should
be dismissed as such.

If you never made a such a claim, then obviously what I say is
inapplicable, and the person quoting this claim was in error (I really
don't remember who it was that introduced this claim into the thread).

I really think that your position is stronger if you are very careful
to avoid over-inflated claims. That's because otherwise people will
dissmiss them on the basis of self-interest. That's not a matter of
questioning your integrity at all. It's a matter of effective tactics.

I try to avoid making *any* positive statements about Ada that I cannot
back up, precisely because I figure that people will just dismiss them
on the grounds that I am trying to get rich (if it were true, which it
is not, then I guess it just shows I don't succeed at everything I try :-)

Anyway, I certainly did not mean to offend here, and I apologize if I did.

Robert