>...
>However, that said, the present situation finds me deeply distressed.
>For I believe that what is going to happen is that the DoD will abandon
>its insistence on the HOW, and replace it, not with an insistence on
>the WHAT, but rather with nothing.

It might be even WORSE than that, Robert: Some customers will replace
the official HOW (Ada) with a worse ad-hoc HOW rather than implemented
this intended non-How.  There are a lot of Captains, Majors, &
Colonels out there who will respond to Mr. Paige's decision by
insisting on C or C++ now irregardless of every other system/software
engineering consideration.  They've been waiting for this excuse.
(Actually, many of them have not waited and have ignored policy, but
this will make them bolder and the Ada champions handicapped -- what
happened to soldiers blindly following orders?)

Raise your hand if you haven't worked a contract this decade with at
least one of those "thinkers" in your customer shop (or in Robert's
case, it's "living with the enemy"?).  Mine's down.


Other than that, what's to disagree with in your thoughtful, well
stated message, Robert?  But, we keep preachin' to the choir.

        -- Hal