On Wed, Oct 21, 1998 at 10:47:19PM -0400, Bob Munck wrote:
> Note, too, that both C++ and Java are much larger than Ada 95
> by just about any measure you could name, including size of
> the specification, number of rules in the grammar, number of
> keywords, and number of violations of proper O-O architecture.
They were, however, not designed by committee, which is why much of
the bulk of Ada is excess, useless, cumbersome baggage, and why much
of the bulk of C++ and Java is actually useful.
> It is larger in the number of host and target machines supported
> by validated compilers.
I don't buy the Ada "validation" process for a moment. It's bureaucratese
with no significant software engineering value. But even if Ada
runs on more systems than Java or C++ (which I doubt), that's
only because those who choose to bloat themselves at the trough
of DoD/et.al. funding have ported it, and because it's been
around a heck of a lot longer (in the case of Java).
There's a reason you don't see the people who have a choice (i.e. the
freeware community) rushing to port Ada and write things in Ada and create
applications in it, while you *do* see them doing the same in C++ and
Java (and C and Perl and tcl/tk).
> I for one am very happy that more and more systems that I trust
> with my life, like the avionics for the Boeing 777, are programmed
> in Ada.
ROTFL!
Really? Is there something magic about Ada that means that those
avionics systems are bug-free?
I don't think so. I've never seen any credible evidence that programs
written in Ada are demonstrably more reliable than programs written in
any other modern language. It's just hype spouted by Ada proponents to
provide an excuse for what is in reality a miserable language.
And by the way, if you're going to worry about programs that you
"trust with your life", then I'd advise spending a lot more time worrying
about the ancient software in the ATC systems which guide that Boeing 777,
or the firmware running elevators and traffic signals, or the software
runnning CAT and NMR scanners, or ...
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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