From: juphoff@chaos.aoc.nrao.edu (Uppie) Subject: Re: ALPHA-pl11 available on nic: C++ support Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1993 19:36:40 GMT
In article <21edf9INNg4m@rave.larc.nasa.gov> jcburt@gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov () writes:
>...the Government *tried* to legislate
>ADA as a standard, its only worked where it is required by contract...
>
Ah, yes...one of the great moments in computer history...politicians deciding
what language programmers should use to write software. My dad got
caught up in that whole mess, and damn near quit his job over it.
(He DID quit his job about ten years ago with our local county
government when one of the board of supervisors--the owner of an
applesauce factory--decided to overrule my dad's recommendation for
a new computer system. The applesauce czar decided that since his
plant had an IBM, by god the county government should too...despite the
harsh recommendations against it by my father, who had been running
and programming systems since the the old rotating-drum memory Bendix
days. --Note: this was not an anti-IBM move...the IBM system that
Mr. applesauce rammed down the county's throat just wasn't suited for
the task; it was the _identical_ model that he had tallying his apples...
also about 1 or 2 years from obselescence...not a good move for spending
tax dollars on, considering the early-80's cost of mainframes.)
I know, this has nothing to do with Linux, but that comment about
ADA just struck a nerve with me....won't happen again.
(Yea, right...) =)
-- Jeff Uphoff -- "Uppie" | "The secret to good teaching is sincerity. As uphoff@astro.psu.edu | soon as you learn to fake that, you've got it juphoff@nrao.edu | made."