Re: Boeing and Dreamliner

[aek@vib.usr.pu.ru (Alexander Kopilovitch)]

Richard Riehle wrote:

>C++ would be a dangerous choice, not only because the language itself can lead
>to so many undecidables and unpredictable fragments of code, but also because
>the language, itself, implies a heavy reliance on resuable components.

This observation is both true and important, I think. The implicit link
between C++ language and cheap/easy reusability really exists. This is because
C++ was designed and evolved primarily for solution space.

>... The more I see of C++, the more experience
>I gain with it, the more I realize why Ada is designed to a more rigorous
>set of rules.  Those rules may be annoying to some programmers, but those
>rules make sense to an engineer.

Yes, because Ada is for problem space, and that is what engineers are needed.
They rightfully aren't biased towards solution space because they do not
worry whether their acquired programming skills will be useful (and valued
by some future employer) in generic application domain (games, databases,
Web servers etc.

>A fly-by-wire aircraft is an engineering problem, not a programming problem,
>even when software (and programming) are part of the solution space.  When one
>looks at this kind of system as a total engineering effort, one must also consider
>the software as part of the engineering, not separate from it.  With C++, it
>is too easy to disengage the software effort from the rest of the engineering
>effort.

Yes, this is another true and important observation.

>In my experience, good engineers, when
>exposed to Ada, do learn to create excellent software designs, and they learn
>to do so independent of the the search for the perfect algorithm.

Yes, but you said "good engineers" -:)  This sounds like you mean engineers
that already can see the problem space properly, and all they need is to
express their view formally. So you convey them an appropriate formalism --
and all are happy.

>Often, it
>is better to start with engineers and teach them Ada than to start with
>programmers who have already developed bad habits.

True, if you have enough time to teach, and good teachers (in addition to
good pupils - "good engineers").



Alexander Kopilovitch                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia