Re: some trivial questions?

["Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com>]

"Paul Rubin" <no.email@nospam.invalid> wrote in message 
news:87efoper6i.fsf@nightsong.com...
> "Randy Brukardt" <randy@rrsoftware.com> writes:
>> Creating a model that both formal and understandable by a run-of-the-mill
>> language lawyer and finding volunteers to create the model seems unlikely
>> (to say the least).
>
> Well I thought Ada was originally sponsored by big-money defense
> agencies, but maybe that was only Ada-83.

Ada 9x (which ultimately became Ada 95) was also a big-money project. But 
all work since has been accomplished basically by volunteers; I'm the only 
paid person, and only for about 1/4 time. (Volunteers don't do the 
paper-pushing jobs that are necessary to finish a project, especially in the 
world of international standards, thus some paid person is necessary, 
certainly for projects that are long-lasting like Ada.)

> Anyway, I do think there was
> some formalization work for Scheme in the 1980s and ML in the 1990s.  I
> can understand how it could be much harder for Ada, since Scheme and ML
> operate under some convenient illusions like having infinite memory,
> which Ada cannot.

There was some formalization work for Ada as part of the Ada 9x project 
(remember, "big money" as you described it). I don't know much about it 
other than that it existed; perhaps Tucker Taft or Bob Duff (both of whom 
worked at the center of the Ada 9x project) know more.

                                 Randy.