Re: Ada Operating System

[Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen)]

In article <3C8B0191.3080705@mail.com>, Hyman Rosen <hyrosen@mail.com> writes:
> Marin David Condic wrote:
>> What about "privacy"? Would it be useful if the OS gave you a guarantee
>> that some app you have can't be blipping your data to some unknown source or
>> accessing websites without your knowledge/permission?
> 
> I'm afraid your love for Ada has blinded you to the fact that not
> all software errors are because of buffer overflow. Many of the
> errors and vulnerabilities that show up these days are "cross-
> scripting" errors and the like, where programs execute externally
> submitted scripting code because they fail to properly validate
> inputs. This is purely an error of program logic - no automated
> language checking is going to catch this.

But automatic language checking does provide the programmer with
more time to worry about those things that only humans can handle.
I rarely see Norm Abrams on PBS using a hand tool in his carpentry.

I do not believe that the automatic checking provided by Ada makes
programmers behave sloppily.  There is some pride in writing code
that the compiler will accept on the first try.  From there on,
the individual zeal for quality can only be further sustained by
addressing those problems that are not susceptible to automation.

But perhaps it would be otherwise if a different class of programmers
were using Ada.  We should be thankful there are other languages to
draw those people who are only interested in what is the latest fad.