The Ada paradox(es)

Abstract

Ada was designed as a tool tailored for industrial software engineering. When we compare the initial requirements with the current language, the match is excellent. However, Ada did not gain the popularity that was expected by its designers -without any technical reason for this. This talk explores this paradox, and many others related to the gap between the goals of the language and its actual use.He has now formed Adalog, a company specialized in high level training, consultancy, and software development in the fields of Ada and associated technologies (software engineering, object oriented methodologies). J-P. Rosen is Chairman of the AFNOR (French standardization body) group for Ada, and a member of the ARG (Ada Rapporteur Group), the group of experts in charge of maintenance and evolution of the language. He was a member of the expert team who controlled the development of the validation suite for Ada 95.He is the author of "Méthodes de Génie Logiciel avec Ada 95" (Software Engineering Methods with Ada 95) and "HOOD: an industrial approach for software development".