Dilber is right on top of it as usual:
Cheers!
Posted on 09/20/2010 8:52:32 AM PDT by RogerFGay
That's been my experience. Ada, the language put out by the DOD for bid and designed & built by multiple committees was supposed to address that. "A camel is a horse designed by a committee". And a camel is what they got. The earliest implementations, with perhaps the exception of Verdix Ada (after it matured a bit), were mostly pretty bad. A few iterations (and a lot of in-the-field experience) later, Ada has gotten pretty good.
Of course, the proliferation of different software licenses on code hasn't helped either. Basic example - you cannot incorporate GPL code into BSD licensed code (the GPL is a viral license that requires all of the code it is linked with become GPL), however you can incorporate LGPL code into BSD licensed code. Some Open Source projects, notably from the FSF are even stricter, they not only require GPLed submissions, but the copyright must also be assigned to the FSF.
Certain software projects like XEmacs (which was a fork of GNU Emacs in the early 1990s by the now defunct Lucid) require GPL licensed contributions. Others like Emacs require not only GPL licensed contributions, but they must also be copyright assigned to the FSF. When Lucid went bankrupt and orphaned XEmacs as Open Source in its bankruptcy, it was in the position of being GPL, but unable for the most part to share code back with the parent.
There is a time and place for lawyers, but in the field of software development their involvement has been little short of disastrous.
Been there, done that, tried to change the world and it didn't quite work out, although I'm quite proud of how XEmacs has turned out. It's still my favorite text editor. (grep for "altair" in XEmacs ChangeLog files, that's me).
I use Apache Wicket for my Java-based web development, it's awesome, mark up pages with plain-old HTML, no tags, scriptlets or any of that garbage, any control can be easily AJAX-capable.
I code in 0s and 1s, and sometimes we don’t even have the 1s.
(Stolen from a Dilbert cartoon)
Hmmm. Smells like avionics or process control.
I was around when "software reuse" became the big buzzword and Ada was introduced as a measure (in part) to reduce software development cost in increasingly computerized military systems. It didn't really work at the time, but it felt good to a lot of manager types.
The problem is identifying what is the difference between hard real time requirements (and I only define "hard" as in if you miss taking action and someone will get killed or injured or something is damaged or destroyed, but that's not the standard definition) and just keeping the system usable.
Technology cannot eliminate the difference in requirements for different applications.
I have to agree, much as I am in love with the idea of software reuse. However, I would like to s/cannot eliminate/has not yet eliminated/. I'm an optimist. I may not live to solve it, but perhaps one of my sons will. One thing that my reading in history has convinced me of is "never misunderestimate the power of the human mind".
I’m in aerospace software.
I have to admit to being an Ada-phile. I like the language a lot more than C++, and find it very, very powerful, without carrying the inherent danger of blowing one’s rhetorical foot off! ;-P
Oh well...
Y’all have a great evening.
I have no doubt about the power of the human mind, but my comment has more to do with the plain fact that hard real-time embedded systems are driven by their requirements, which are expression of the functions performed by the system. If the systems didn't necessarily perform different functions, then one would likely avoid the cost of developing a separate, dissimilar system unless there were some other compelling reason to do so. Most businessmen don't purposefully waste money, so...
The power of reuse is embodied by the essence of object-oriented programming, where hierarchical construction allows for overlays on top of basic functionality, lending the ability to specialize a generic object. Were it not for the inherent dead and deactivated code (not to mention the compiler-invented subroutines outside the view of mortal men), this would be a perfect solution to most applications - once embedded computers get fast enough to absorb the bloat.
Of course, in aero the life span of a given system is measured in decades, meaning some of the processors still out there (and being upgraded) may be pre-1980 technology! It kind of makes the "processing power" tsunami into a bathtub wave - not much impact! LOL
Dilber is right on top of it as usual:
Cheers!
Stay well ................. FRegards
What is even funnier than your cartoon is the fact that, that particular one used to grace the inside wall of my cubicle where I could only see it.
Until, that is my manager issued the diktat that all cartoons and posters needed to be removed from all cubicles.
And Yes, there is a Dilbert cartoon on that too.
Art reflecting life.
I guess Java wasn’t sufficient...
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/06/android-goes-beyond-java-gains-native-cc-dev-kit.ars
old fashioned ping
>>The only method I’ve ever seen work to get people reusing code is full group code reviews. <<
Same here. But my experience is from the 80’s and 90’s, when the group was all English speaking Americans.
It is a challenge today.
>>The only method I’ve ever seen work to get people reusing code is full group code reviews. <<
Same here. But my experience is from the 80’s and 90’s, when the group was all English speaking Americans sitting in the same room with a whiteboard.
It is a challenge today.
Another one of the problems of out sourcing, makes it really hard to get the dev team together for information sharing.
Not so much the case now with video conferencing, bridge calls and instant messaging.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/92457/2007-n2a-motors-789-the-best-of-the-1950-s-chevy-
Video conferencing and bridge calls are overrated. I’ve dialed into a phone in a meeting room and it’s basically worthless. If you have everybody sitting at their desk using a webex thing half of them are screwing around on the web ignoring the meeting. And of course for a full run code review you’re talking about a week or two of these meetings that are really boring but you really want people paying attention, there’s no replacement for everybody being in the same room for something like that.
I suppose as with most things, YMMV.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.