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An article in the Electronic Engineering Times noted an industry-wide upheaval in favor of object-oriented (OO) programming languages. The author discusses the bright future of Ada 95 as it further penetrates the marketplace. He also notes a new programming language called Dylan, set to be launched soon by Apple Computer Inc.
Jerome Rosen, a software engineer at Lockheed Martin Astronautics, argues the belief that Ada's use remains within the defense arena. "I understand that some people in the industry feel that the whole Ada mandate is a waste of taxpayer dollars. I don't agree. I feel dollars spent on Ada 95 will be magnified tenfold or more in the early 21st century, when we are able to quantify life-cycle cost improvements, demonstrate examples of increased reliability and exploit maintainability," Rosen said.
The article contends that most of Ada's service is on very large-scale applications such as the Boeing 777, Canada's upgraded air-traffic control system and the control system for the 192-Mjoule high-powered laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories' upcoming National Ignition Facility. "Ada may remain a niche language, but it occupies a rather broad niche, so I think it will continue to lead by example for a variety of application areas," noted Paul Pukite, director of engineering at Daina Engineering.
Also noted was the use of Ada at Digital Equipment Corp.'s Multivendor Customer Services group for products such as databases and secure e-mail systems. "It's hands-down the best language we have today," said Steve Roscio, a Digital engineer. "Sure, C++ lets you code quickly, but then we spend months fixing problems. It's way cheaper to use Ada in the long run."
Source:
Wolfe, Alexander. "Quest For `Magic Bullet' Leads to Object
Software." Electronic Engineering Times via First!, 8
June 1995: 1.