[SystemSafety] A Common Programming Language for the Department of Defense

[Derek M Jones]

All,

The rationale for the DOD using one language for
all its software is throughly explained in the following
excellent post:
http://archive.adaic.com/pol-hist/history/holwg-93/holwg-93.htm

The viewpoint expressed in this paragraph (which I don't think
is true, for hardware {at least after the 60s} or software):
"Another factor in the decision was that at that time, the DoD had a 
greater influence on software technology than on hardware. Some years 
previous, the DoD was the major innovator and consumer of the most 
sophisticated computer hardware possible. By 1974 the DoD represented 
only a small fraction of the total commercial market. In software, that 
unique position still existed. A significant fraction of the total 
software industry was devoted to DoD related programs..."
goes someway to explaining why the DOD went down this path and failed.

> All,
>
> The 1976 report (the starting point for what ended up as Ada)
> "A Common Programming Language for the Department of Defense--Background
> and Technical Requirements"
> does not appear to be available in pdf anywhere.
>
> The obvious source does not link to anything:
> http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA028297
>
>
> Does anybody know where a copy of the pdf can be found (Google
> does not have one)?
>

-- 
Derek M. Jones           Software analysis
tel: +44 (0)1252 520667  blog:shape-of-code.coding-guidelines.com