About a year ago I was asked a very similar question when I proposed using
Ada for a small satellite program. I checked with Greenhills (the
real-time OS vendor that supported the hardware chosen) and ACT (an Ada
compiler vendor), and was able to get leads on a number of current programs
in the same type of program. This was sufficient to get my management to
agree with my choice.
It is difficult to find an accurate value for the number of projects using
Ada, but it might be possible to get the compiler vendors to say how many
licenses they sell (or renew) each year. I would think that would be the
best indicator.
Go to http://www.adahome.com/Resources/Compilers/Vendors.html for a fairly
complete list of vendors.
For one metric, the number of members of this mailing list has gone from
350 in 1999 to 318 in 2000, 285 in 2001, 284 in 2002, 289 in 2003, and 233
in October 2004 (the last time I checked). I won't interpret that number
(there are a lot of people who -want- Ada to succeed is one
interpretation), but you asked for any metrics.
Roger Racine
At 08:46 AM 3/17/2005 -0500, Fravel, Bill (N-Zytel) wrote:
>I work supporting a DoD Agency enterprise standards program. We have a
>request to evaluate the status of the Ada programming language. Could
>you point me to information on any metrics that indicate the health and
>status of Ada? For example, information on the revenue generated over
>time for compilers and other Ada tools, the trend in the amount of Ada
>code being delivered over time, etc.
>
>I was very involved in the early growth of Ada (I even had a Symbolics
>with an Ada compiler) but I have not been involved for a number of
>years.
>
>Thanks - Bill
>
>Bill Fravel
>LM LSI Program, Hanover, Building 2, Rm. 114
>Zytel Contractor
>410.796.2677
Roger Racine
Draper Laboratory, MS 31
555 Technology Sq.
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
617-258-2489
617-258-3939 Fax
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