Results of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council's Review of the Past and Present Contexts for Using Ada Within the Department of Defense

Wednesday, December 4, 1996, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Barry Boehm chaired the recent NRC Study Committee, which reviewed its original 1970's Ada program, compared it to the current situation, and proposed a new set of recommendations. The committee -- which included a balance of professionals from the DoD, from industry, and from the broader Ada community -- received numerous briefings and reports on experiences and trends in Ada and software engineering. It considered a wide range of options. This presentation will summarize the recommendations and the rationale behind them.

Barry Boehm is the TRW Professor of Software Engineering in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California. Between 1989 and 1992, he served in DoD as Director of the DARPA Information Science and Technology Office, as Director of the DDR&E Software and Computer Technology Office, and as Director of two major DoD software initiatives. His two most recent books were Software Engineering Economics (1981) and Software Risk Management (1989).

Thursday, December 5, 1996, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Will Ada survive deep into the 21st Century? Where will it go in the software market? Ada has a proven record of benefits for organizations committed to "engineering discipline" in software development. But, despite all its technical virtues, Ada has yet to become a prominent language in the commercial market. Why? What are the likely consequences if this situation does not change? What can the Ada community do to help move it to a healthier "business" foundation?

Dennis Turner serves as Director of Software Engineering within the U.S. Army Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) Research, Development, and Engineering Center. His directorate supports Army Project Managers and Program Executive Officers, who are responsible for weapon and defense systems used in strategic and tactical Battlefield Functional Areas. Turner's office oversees key activities in interoperability and standardization, software technology, and joint service missions. His group also assists in worldwide software support for satellite and ground communications, intelligence/electronic warfare, aircraft, command and control, simulation and training, and fire support systems. Turner has more than 25 years of industry and service experience in information processing and software engineering.

Friday, December 6, 1996, 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM

Few people realize how much their well-being depends on software. It is critical to the performance or security of most advanced electronic products. Traditional methods to develop critical software are unsatisfactory. Better processes are essential. The Capability Maturity Model^SM, or CMM, is now widely used to help organizations improve their software capability. Experience with the CMM shows sharp improvements in product quality and development productivity. The Personal Software Process (PSP) introduces software engineers to disciplined personal methods. After PSP training, engineers produce more accurate plans and develop higher quality products.

Watts Humphrey is a Software Engineering Institute (SEI) fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. At SEI, he led the initial development of the CMM, and introduced the concepts of Software Process Assessment and Software Capability Evaluation. Prior to SEI, he spent 27 years with IBM in various technical executive positions including the management of all IBM commercial software development. Humphrey's books include A Discipline for Software Engineering, Managing the Software Process, and Managing for Innovation - Leading Technical People. In 1993, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awarded him Aerospace Software Engineering Award. He holds five US patents.