Ada implementation issues as discovered through a literature survey of applications outside the United States.

96 Pages·1.5 MB·en_US

by  Soong, Warren J.;McCaffrey, Martin J.

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11 TITLE(IncludeSecurityClassification)
ADAIMPLEMENTATIONISSUESASDISCOVEREDTHROUGHALITERATURESURVEYOFAPPLICATIONSOUTSIDETHEUNITED
STATES
12 PERSONALAUTHOR(S) Soong,WarrenJ.
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Master'sThesis From To March 1992 89
16 SUPPLEMENTARYNOTATION
TheviewsexpressedinthisthesisarethoseoftheauthoranddonotreflecttheofficialpolicyorpositionoftheDepartmentofDefenseortheU.S.
Government.
17 COSATICODES 18 SUBJECTTERMS(continueonreverseifnecessaryandidentifybyblocknumber)
FIELD GROUP SUBGROUP Ada
19 ABSTRACT(continueonreverseifnecessaryandidentifybyblocknumber)
TheAdaprogramminglanguagehasbeenadopted,mandatedandlegislatedforusebytheDepartmentofDefenseforallsoftwaredevelopment
wherecosteffective. Althoughitisapowerful,generalpurposelanguage,Adahasencounteredsomeresistancetoitsimplementationwithin
DoD. However,Ada'suseoutsideDoD,aswellasoutsidetheUnitedStates,isontherise. Foreigngovernmentsandcommercialindustriesare
realizingAda'sbenefitsthroughoutthesoftwaredevelopmentcycle. TheacknowledgmentofAda'sadvantagesinproductivityenhancementand
costsavinghasinitiatedashifttowardsAda,awayfromolderprogramminglanguages,likeFortranandCOBOL. Thisstudyaimstodisseminate
informationaboutthelanguageanditsusearoundtheworld,aswellasdiscussnegativeattitudeswhichpresentthebiggestchallengetoAda's
implementation.
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Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Ada Implementation Issues As Discovered
Through A Literature Survey Of Applications
Outside The United States
by
Warren Soong
J.
Captain, United States Marine Corps
B.A., Cornell University, 1986
Submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION SYSTEMS
from the
NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
March 1992
David R. Whipple, Chairman
Department of Administra/ive Sciences
ABSTRACT
The Ada programming language has been adopted, mandated and legislated for use
by the Department ofDefense for all software development where cost effective. Although
it is a powerful, general purpose language, Ada has encountered some resistance to its
implementation within DoD. However, Ada's use outside DoD, as well as outside the
United States, is on the rise. Foreign governments and commercial industries are realizing
Ada'sbenefits throughout the software development cycle. The acknowledgment ofAda's
advantages in productivity enhancement and cost saving has initiated a shift towards Ada,
away from older programming languages, like Fortran and COBOL. This study aims to
disseminate information about the language and its use around the world, as well as
discuss negative attitudes which present the biggest challenge to Ada's implementation.
in
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I 1
A. BACKGROUND 1
B. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 2
C. METHODOLOGY 3
D. OVERVIEW 4
II. ADA PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE 5
A. HISTORY 5
B. LANGUAGE ADVANTAGES 7
1. Modularity 8
2. Error Handling 9
Parallel Processing
3 9
4. Reusability 10
5. Portability 12
6. Maintainability 13
7. Reliability 14
8. Support for Large, Multi-author Systems 15
. .
III. ADA ADOPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION 17
A. WHY ADA IS INCREASING IN POPULARITY 17
1 More Knowledge and Experience 17
.
iv
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NAVALPOSTGRADUATE
SCHOOL
MONTEREV.CAUPORN^^
2. Better Language Support 19
3. Larger, More Complex Projects 20
4. Software Engineering 21
B. BARRIERS TO ADA ADOPTION 24
1. Entrenchment of Other Languages 24
2. Complexity 25
3 Costs 26
.
4. Defense-related, Embedded System Language 27
.
5. Software Development Is An "Art" 28
IV. ADA USE OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES 31
A. ADA IN EUROPE 31
1 Ada-Europe 32
.
...
2. Military and Government Applications 33
3 Commercial Applications 34
B. ADA IN AUSTRALIA 3 6
1. Military Applications 36
2. Commercial Applications 37
C. ADA IN JAPAN 38
...
1. Military and Government Applications 38
2. Commercial Applications 38
V. THE FUTURE OF SOFTWARE WITH ADA 41
A. ISSUES FOR ADA'S FUTURE 41
v
1. The Numbers 41
2. Ada 9X 44
3 Reuse 46
.
4. Perception 48
B. RECOMMENDATIONS: WHAT DOD MUST DO 51
1. Industrial Base 51
2 Education 53
.
C. SUMMARY 54
APPENDIX 56
LIST OF REFERENCES 7 9
INITIAL DISTRIBUTION LIST 82
VI