mack@mlokai.dec.com (07/20/86)
I have been sort of following the discussion on export controls on Ada.
Does this discussion relate just to export controls on language and APSE
implementations only, or also to applications written in Ada? If its only the
former, then perhaps a recent note from a security-type person answers that
question. But the question had come up about the public-domain repository of
Ada software, so I will assume the question is broader.
I use Ada in an engineering/scientific environment; my department doesn't
have any military programming contracts and never will. Would the fact that
a particular piece of code was written in Ada have any effect on export
controls being applicable? Compare, say, a program written in Ada versus a
program to perform the same task written in Fortran. Could export controls
apply to one but not the other?
If export controls would be either applied or not applied for both of these,
regardless of the language, then I can't see where the problem is (provided you
buy the idea of needing export controls on non-classified materials). If,
however, code written in Ada is more subject to export control, then Ada is
entirely inappropriate for commercial programming. This would be a real shame,
as (except for its abysmal treatment of strings -- real strings don't come in
fixed lengths :-) ) Ada is a terrific language to work with.
Ralph Mack
*** As usual, these views are just the ramblings of one software engineer's ***
*** fevered brain and not necessarily the views of his company, his wife, or ***
*** anyone else. ***