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"Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
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From:
"Criley, Marc A" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 10 May 2000 11:46:39 -0400
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"Criley, Marc A" <[log in to unmask]>
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(Okay, just to try to get myself off the hook here...my crack about it maybe
being true that there were no "certified" Ada compilers _was_ accompanied
with a "winking smiley", I intended it as an obscure, in-crowd joke
referencing the evolution of terminology from "validation" to
"certification" that accompanied being able to derive validation
certification...   Never mind :-)

Some have been attempting to concisely and respectfully refute these
ridiculous assertions in slashdot, and there does seem to be some positive
effect.  When I refuted one's assertion that virtually no schools teach Ada
any more (don't worry Mike, I pointed him at your list!), he openly
acknowledged that he'd been in error.

Someone here or there included a tag-line that Ada advocacy needs to follow
the "Presidential Campaign Approach:  Always refute your opponent's claims,
no matter how absurd."

It's been a remarkably flame-free forum so far.

Marc A. Criley


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brashear, Phil [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 10:12 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Re: "Why Not Ada"
>
> OK:
> First, it didn't take years to get the first certified Ada compiler.  (By
> the way, my recollection of the
> slashdot comment was that it said "complete" -- and, as far as I know
> there
> are no complete C++
> compilers; also, since there is no real Java standard, it's hard to see
> how
> there could be complete
> Java compilers.)  MIL-STD-1815A was adopted in late 1983.  There was at
> least one certificate
> before the summer of 1984, with at least two more during the summer of
> that
> year.  (I'm quoting
> Mike Hill, who helped perform one of those three validations.)
>
> My group offers validation (certification) services for C++ compilers.  We
> have certified exactly zero
> C++ compilers.  If anyone else offers C++ certificates, I think I would
> have
> heard about it.
> For a definitive answer, contact the convener of the ISO Working Group
> responsible for C++: Tom Plum ([log in to unmask]).
>
> I was tempted to respond to the most egregious of the slashdot comments,
> but
> it was too much trouble and too hard on my blood pressure.  48 character
> set, indeed!  (I might know where that came from.  In the early days of
> the
> ACVC, our test coding standards restricted us to uppercase so as to test
> functionality over input format.  I suppose an ignorant person might have
> inferred that lowercase letters weren't supported, but that's ridiculous.)
>
> I wonder whether a careful attempt to refute these ridiculous claims (in
> the
> slashdot forum) might accomplish anything?  (I sincerely doubt it.)
>
> Phil
>
> Philip W. Brashear
> EDS Conformance Testing Center
> 4646 Needmore Road, Bin 46
> P.O. Box 24593
> Dayton, OH  45424-0593
> (937) 237-4510
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.eds-conform.com
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Kester, Rush W. [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2000 9:26 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: "Why Not Ada"
> >
> >
> > >-----Original Message-----
> > >From: Criley, Marc A [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > >Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2000 12:00 PM
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: "Why Not Ada"
> > >
> > >I read through the comments posted at the SlashDot site, and
> > some of the
> > >misinformation was so mind-bogglingly ludicrous that it
> > warranted its own
> > >Douglas Adams' metaphors.  I was embarrassed for some of the
> > contributors
> > >that they not just believed, but would actually post, such
> > foolishness.
> > >
> > >Did you know that early Ada compilers could only recognize
> > 48 characters?
> > >That the language was so complex that it was years before a
> > "certified"
> > >compiler could be produced?  (Well, that one might actually
> > be true ;-)
> >
> > As true as the statement that it took years to get a
> > certified Ada compiler
> > might be, how long did it take to get the first certified C
> > or C++ compiler?
> >
> > Rush Kester
> > Charter member Team Ada
> > Software Systems Engineer
> > AdaSoft at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.
> > email:  [log in to unmask]
> > phone: (240) 228-3030 (live M-F 9:30am-4:30pm, voicemail anytime)
> > fax:   (240) 228-6779
> > http://hometown.aol.com/rwkester/myhomepage/index.html
> >

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