Re: What is Delta??

["Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.not.jrcarter@acm.not.spam.org>]

Marc A. Criley wrote:
> 
> I can't say whether this his actually happened with regard to an Indian 
> university or some other outsourcing initiative, but I do know that 
> significant systems have been written in Ada in the late 90s by 
> programmers in the US having little or no exposure to the language prior 
> to the project.

Not to mention the 1980s and early 1990s.

> An experienced Ada programmer knows what Ada code should look like, in 
> terms of definitions, structures, and interactions.  A system that was 
> dumped in my lap to port to a new OS version and compiler included the 
> following:
> 
> - A set of project-standard integer types were defined for 8, 16, and 32 
> bit items.  _Every_ other integer type was defined as a subtype of one 
> of those.  Totally eliminated integer type conflicts--and checking.

Unfortunately, this is a fairly common practice. I find it less 
offensive than the design principle that most communication takes place 
through global variables. But what we're talking about is not just poor 
use of Ada; this is SW that has been designed by coders who are not 
competent to design SW. The construction workers are designing the bridges.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Oh Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou
mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy."
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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