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Ada for new project? [closed]

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We are currently developing a noncritical moving map type navcomm solution for our Atom based avionics device. The prototype has been done in Python/Qt, now I need to decide on a language to use for the "real" app. Ada or C/C++. I've been a C++ developer for 12 years and loathe the language. Ada seems promising, but I'm a little worried about it's supporting infrastructure, available libraries, developer availability and so on. Has anybody here been through this before? What are your conclusions?

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user478389 Avatar asked Oct 17 '10 07:10

user478389


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1 Answers

(A response from an actual Ada developer)

Contrary to prediction of its imminent demise, Ada is still going along just fine. The current version of the language is Ada 2005, and the updates for Ada 2012 are in the process of being finalized.

Ada continues to undergo modernization and incorporate new software engineering features and practices as they're developed by industry. (And the reverse is true as well--built-in concurrency has been a core Ada feature since 1983, and which is only now making its way into "modern" programming languages. :-)

Not every new feature and practice is going to be adopted by Ada, Ada's not going to morph into a functional language, for instance. But those features that enhance software productivity, reliability, and safety are incorporated in a way that is consistent with Ada's underlying architecture and intent.

It's certainly true that Ada is not a widely used programming language, but it does have a committed developer community, who are almost always more than willing to help out with questions, concerns, and advice for those developing projects and learning the language. Resources include here at StackOverflow (check the Ada tag), comp.lang.ada, even Reddit.

As for Ada developer availability, it's sort of a "Catch-22" situation. Because it's not widely used, there are fewer developers. Because there are fewer developers, companies shy away from using it in projects, and because it doesn't get used for projects, developers don't go looking for jobs in it.

I can attest, though, that there are many knowledgeable current and former Ada programmers who love working with the language, and would be particularly interested in doing so for an application of the type you're describing--if they knew about it. If you made the commitment to go with Ada, and then unapologetically advertised for Ada developers--on Monster, wherever else you advertise, tastefully on comp.lang.ada or Reddit--I think the availability of Ada developers would surprise you and many other skeptics.

Good luck with your project.

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Marc C Avatar answered Oct 17 '22 05:10

Marc C