On Thu, 6 Apr 2000, Criley, Marc A wrote:

> First the original posting:
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To Ada to JBC compiler vendors:
>
> Section 8.2.3 (Miscellaneous) of the Defense Information Infrastructure
> Common Operating Environment (DII COE) Integration & Run-Time
> Specification (I&RTS) v4.0 states that "Developers shall not use
> compilers designed to convert code developed in other languages (e.g.,
> Ada, C++) to create Java byte-codes. This restriction is important
> because such compilers may inadvertently bypass intended Java security
> features."

Well, this is an encouraging sign.  Apparently the folks from Sun
and Microsoft got scared of losing some of their compiler sales to
Ada and propogated that fear to their customers and potential
customers.  It reminds me of the Ben and Jerry ice cream company's
campaign that chided Pillsbury with "What's the Doughboy afraid of?"

The decision is clearly not one based on technical considerations, and
I doubt anyone at COE is smart enough to come up with this on their
own.  The idea was planted by someone.  What is Sun or Microsoft
afraid of?

Let's get them running scared.  Now for Tucker's compiler targeting the
Palm operating system.


Richard Riehle