CONTR47@NOSC-TECR.ARPA (03/05/88)
Ed Berard writes, in part:
The Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO)
encouraged these vendors. They knew of, and appreciated the efforts of,
organizations such as TeleSoft, DEC, New York University, Verdix, and
others. In fact the DoD was delighted when the activities of the Ada
vendors "took on a life of their own."
Here is the way I recall it:
It was the SIGAda in Washington DC in 1985 when DEC
announced their validated Ada compiler. Bob Mathis, then AJPO
director, paid special attention to Softech in his address, noting
that they had "certified" their Ada compiler. He honored them
with a presentation of a bottle of champagne which he noted
was purchased in a Government store on a military base. No mention
was made of DEC's validated compiler.
I had recently been involved in beta testing DEC's compiler
and had (I still have) a great deal of respect for its quality and
the way that DEC developed it on their own money and announced it
only after it worked. In my opinion DEC saved the Ada language. At
that time there were no production quality compilers and DEC
was the last hope on my particular project. Without DEC's
efforts I would have had to recommend that the project be
done in Fortran.
I felt that DEC should be recognized somehow so I purchased
a bottle of champagne (in a for-profit store) to present to them after their talk
the next day. Unfortunately I got stalled in beltway construction
traffic and missed their talk. I presented the champagne to them
in their suite later. They seemed to appreciate it but the
effect was localized.
So Ed, we have different memories of history, but that is
what makes the world go around.
---
regards, sam harbaugh
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