Cothrell@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (08/03/87)
I am a member of a project team that is considering using Ada as the design language/implementation language. Our biggest problem is estimating the time, manpower, efficiency, etc... issues. We would like to receive comments concerning metrics that can be applied to an Ada project for determining such things as mentioned above plus any other guages that may be useful. We have already implemented the system(sort of) in C, but the entire effort was basically just to prove the concept quickly, not something one would like to have credited to his name. the size came out to about 33,000 lines of code, with 6 to 9 programmers, and took about 15 months. Not good statistics. Anyway, any help would be appreciated. Scott Cothrell DOCKMASTER.ARPA
RCONN@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Rick Conn) (08/05/87)
Scott, Re your question about using Ada as the design language and the implementation language for a new project, you might be interested in getting a copy of "Ada Adoption Handbook: A Program Manager's Guide", Version 1.0, SEI Technical Report CMU/SEI-87-TR-9, ESD-TR-87-110, May 1987 by John Foreman and John Goodenough of the Software Engineering Institute. Contact the SEI JPO at 412/268-7630 for details (this document is free). The PMG, while distinctly biased toward the DoD Ada effort, contains many reasonable answers to questions commonly raised about adopting Ada for use on a project. I feel that the PMG does a good job in identifying the issues, providing possible answers to the questions commonly raised (altho I may take issue with some of the answers, the SEI should be commended for making the effort to create the PMG and going on the line with their opinions), and providing pointers to help you in answering your questions to your own satisfaction. An outline of the PMG: 1. Introduction 2. Program Manager Considerations (costs, Technical issues, program control, getting help) 3. The Need for Ada 4. Software Production Technology (terms, Ada compilers, programming support environments, forecast) 5. Ada Maturity and Applicability (action plans for various situations, use of Ada on embedded processors, use of Ada for real-time systems, use of Ada for distriubted systems) 6. Special-purpose languages 7. Mixing Ada with other languages 8. Software Reuse and Ada 9. Learning Ada: Training Implications I. Ada Working Groups and Agencies II. Programs Using Ada (Army, Navy, Air Force, commercial, IR&D) III. Ada Textbooks IV. Ada Compilers for target processors You may also want to look at some of the documentation in the Ada Software Repository, particularly the files in PD:<ADA.EDUCATION> on Ada programming notes (PNOTE*.DOC), common Ada programming errors (PROGERRS.DOC), technical reports from live Ada projects with productivity information and "lessons learned" (ADASOFTR.DOC and TITR.DOC), the lists of Ada texts (TEXTBOOKS.DOC and TEXTS.DOC), and the files in PD:<ADA.POINTERS> (which contains lists of validated Ada compilers, planned Ada compilers, and information on various DoD and SIGAda programs/projects). Rick -------