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: 103376,fb96dafa3cd06656 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1995-02-09 11:02:08 PST Path: nntp.gmd.de!newsserver.jvnc.net!nntpserver.pppl.gov!princeton!udel!rochester!rit!isc-newsserver!psinntp!psinntp!psinntp!vitro.vitro.com!mikmac.vitro.com!user From: mangieri@vitro.com (Michael J. Mangieri) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Availability of Ada Programmers Date: 9 Feb 1995 19:02:08 GMT Organization: Advanced Software Technology, Vitro Corp. Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <3gu939$i7@news1.digex.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: mikmac.vitro.com Date: 1995-02-09T19:02:08+00:00 List-Id: In article <3gu939$i7@news1.digex.net>, cstump@levtech.com wrote: > In article 95Feb3123532@goldfinger.mitre.org, emery@goldfinger.mitre.org (David Emery) writes: > >There's also a quality issue here. Sure, you can 'buy' C hackers by > >the dozen, but is this necessarily a good idea? One of the problems > >in hiring C programmers is seprating the hackers from the well-trained > >software engineers. > > > >An advantage to the "Ada culture" is that software engineering is > >generally (albeit not always) accepted as an integral part of Ada. > >This is just not true with the "C culture". > > > > I have been hearing this argument for years. I have worked in C and > Ada environments (and quite a few others) and the language has nothing > to do with the quality. And, no, it is not a culture issue. It is > a training/teaching issue. I have seen Ada programmers code garbage > even after using the language for years and I have seen assembly and C > programmers code well structured applications. > > Sorry for the minor rant. I just hate that " culture" > argument. OK. I have to put my 0.02 in on this. First of all, I agree that training is the main issue. Properly trained personnel will alleviate many of the problems that leads to production of poor code. However, it cannot be denied that Ada enforces good SE; C does not. It is easy for the 'lazy' C programmer to hack-together code; much more difficult for the Ada programmer to do so, lazy or not :) I teach C, C++ and Ada, and by far, my students writing in Ada produce the better code (in terms of sound SE principles and in the quality of the code itself). Sure, there are those who create sloppy code in any language (and I can show you some horrific Ada code), but by far, the reverse is true. When it comes to 'culture' arguments, I have to agree with David. Mikey -- _____________________________________________________________ / Michael J. Mangieri Internet: mangieri@vitro.com __ / Vitro Corporation Voice: (301) 231-3016 \ / SP 4-2309 FAX: (301) 231-1233 \ / 45 West Gude Drive * Rockville, MD 20850-1160 "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." - A. Einstein These opinions are mine - my employer can't take credit for'em.