[GAP] Regarding Cyril's Reply to My Rant

[Riehle, Richard (CIV)]

Robert,

As usual, your perspectives are greatly appreciated.

In the past seven years since I have been an actual employee
of the DoD (after a very long time as a civilian) I have witnessed
a lot of negative comment about Ada from a lot of people who ought
to know better.  

When my consulting and training practice was primarily concerned with
Ada, I was fortunate to be working with people who were actually 
asking for my services.  At that time, even those who were reluctant
to adopt Ada were doing so for a variety of reasons. The wave of
anti-Ada sentiment I have been encountering within various DoD
agencies during these past several years has been a bit disheartening.

I agree with you that we need constructive suggestions and action.  In 
my professorial role at NPS I have been actively promoting Ada whenever
I can -- this in the face of opposition from members of the faculty who
have more seniority (not to mention tenure) than I.   Each of us can 
take some action in this regard.   

You, Robert, have been active building support for Ada along with
keeping
an important company that contributes to the success of Ada.   However, 
one or two of us, or even a dozen of us, is not sufficient.   As I noted
in an earlier post, we need a strategy along with an action plan that
can
help us move Ada further into the public's attention.   

I hope to find the time to update Ada Distilled for the 2005 standard.
This
might open some doors.  The Ada 95 version has been popular in some
parts of
the world.  My understanding is that someone translated it into Arabic
--
and possibly Farsi.   I have heard that it is being used at University
of
Tehran, but I have no direct confirmation of that.  

You mentioned that Ada is being used at hundreds of universities.  About
six years ago I was visiting a colleague at BYU.  He was showing me
around
the new computer labs when I asked him about Ada.  He said, "Oh we don't
have any use for that here."  From across the lab a graduate student
spoke up, "Ada!  Oh, GNAT.  I'm using it right here," much to the
suprise
of my colleague.  I know Ada is being used a lot of places where we
don't 
expect it.  The DoD representative just down the hall from me, working
on
a major weapon system has made it clear that no one on his project wants
to hear about Ada.   This in spite of the fact that it is
safety-critical,
mission-sensitive, involves a lot of embedded systems, and must work as
intended each and every time it is used or big trouble will result.  My
comments about Ada are met with good humor, but an eventual shrug of the
shoulders -- "Not my concern."

When I mentioned that the perception that Ada is not being widely used,
you 
suggested doing my "homework."  That is not so easy to do these days.
When
AJPO kept a running list of projects, it was pretty easy.   Now, even
those
in the DoD who ought to know, don't.   Others who do know, won't tell.
So,
I can only go by the funded research that I see come into this school.
None
of it is for Ada.  It would be great if someone were keeping a central
list
of projects so we could access [and verify] that list.   

My interest is in resurrecting Ada as an academic subject that people
actually want to support.   I realize it will never again be a widely
regarded "first language."  However,  as Martin noted, it is even 
vanishing from the USAF Academy.   The fact that someone at some school
is a member of GAP or individually using the language is not the same
as having a committment from the computer science department to actually
include Ada as part of the curriculum.  

I will do my best to keep some aspect of Ada alive here at NPS.  I may
even be able to get some M.S. student to do another project using Ada.
But that is not enough.

We still need a strategy that can bring Ada back to the attention of
those
who need to know about it.  Those case history stories in widely-read
publications would be a great start, but who will write them?   

Thanks for your contribution to this conversation, Robert.  As noted
above, your wisdom is always appreciated and welcome.

Richard
====================================================================

-----Original Message-----
From: gap-bounces at gnat.info [mailto:gap-bounces at gnat.info] On Behalf Of
Robert Dewar
Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2007 4:20 PM
To: GNAT Academic Program discussion list
Subject: Re: [GAP] Regarding Cyril's Reply to My Rant

By the way Richard, I certainly understand where you are
coming from, it is easy to get frustrated when other people
rush off in wrong directions. But what we need is
constructive suggestions and action. There are lots
of positive signs, in particular, we have had great
success in placing articles on Ada in many important
magazines that are read in the avionics and defence
fields, and for sure editors of these magazines are
more aware of Ada.

Yesterday, I did an extended interview with an editor
from GCN, who is planning an article on Ada, and they
must be serious, since they sent over a professional
photographer who spent an hour taking hundreds of
portraits of me to choose one for the article :-)

Robert

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