TEAM-ADA Archives

Team Ada: Ada Programming Language Advocacy

TEAM-ADA@LISTSERV.ACM.ORG

Options: Use Classic View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
X-cc: Susan Carlson - AdaIC <[log in to unmask]>, Drew Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>, "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>, Ed Colbert - Past SIGAda VC/Liaison & Ada Awareness Manager <[log in to unmask]>
Sender: "Team Ada: Ada Advocacy Issues (83 & 95)" <[log in to unmask]>
From: Hal Hart <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 1997 23:50:35 -0700
In-Reply-To: Your message of Thu, 17 Jul 97 09:11:07 EDT. <[log in to unmask]>
X-To: Ben Brosgol <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Hal Hart <[log in to unmask]>
Parts/Attachments: text/plain (34 lines)
>Although I don't have an answer, I think that TRW is asking the wrong
>question.  The issue is not the number of XYZ Programmers (where
>XYZ is Ada 95, C++, etc) but rather the number of people who
>understand the principles of software engineering and who also
>know XYZ.  I would suggest that although the sheer number of
>C++ programmers is undoubtedly much higher than that of
>Ada 95 programmers, if you filter the population so as to
>focus on those who truly understand software construction,
>then the numbers become closer.  It is far more likely
>that an Ada 95 programmer will also have a good understanding
>of software engineering, than a C++ programmer.  So although
>it may be harder to find Ada 95 programmers, those whom
>you do find will be more likely to succeed.
>
>I would hope that TRW is also looking at language issues such as
>standardization status, ability to interface with foreign code, etc.


BEN: I appreciate and respect (and even "theoretically" agree with)
your position, but in general Gov't procurement procedures make it
much more black-and-white than that.  If an RFP says "program in Ada
95," we say "how high should jump?", not try to convince the customer
he asked the wrong question.  If a procurement suggests that we choose
a language and demonstrate our capability in it, we need to not fudge
on the response -- and # of trained programmers is what the average
customer understands.  Rule #1 of proposals is directly address what
the RFP asks (i.e., "comply"); acting too smart and in any way
implying that we should be answering different questions is a sure way
to lose most procurements, so this would only be done so as to appear
to extend the basic compliant answer.  I think that's the game Ed
needs to play here.

        -- Hal

ATOM RSS1 RSS2