Future Directions for Ada Bindings and Related Standards. Moderator: Mr. David Emery, Hughes/Canada.
Panelists: Vic Giddins, Objective Interface Systems; Jim Isaak, Digital Equipment Corporation; Jim Moore, The MITRE Corporation.
Over the last few years there has been a shift in widely used standards for system interfaces such as Unix, database interfaces and similar services. This panel will serve as a forum for this change in activities, and will focus on how the community can continue to successfully develop Ada-associated standards in the new environment of consortia standards. The panelists will present perspectives on recent standardization efforts. They will work with the audience to propose a new approach for Ada bindings and related secondary standards.
Software Reuse and AdaSAGE. Moderator: Dr. Charles B. Engle, Ada Joint Program Office.
Panelists: Dr. Robert C. Leif, Ada Med; Cmdr. Fred W. Thompson (ret), SAIC; Mr. John Taylor, US Army Software Development Center; Col. George Thurmond, National Defense University; Mr. Paul Whittington, INEL.
This panel will address AdaSAGE's use as a software tool for developing complex applications and for highlighting the advantages of the reuse component of this environment. The panel will discuss the factors that define reuse, as experienced by software developers. Participants will evaluate the success of AdaSAGE on the critical measures of reuse quality -- understandability, ease of use and effectiveness. Coordinated efforts among users, developers, and administrators are a necessity.
Ada and Java: Towards disciplined programming for the next software generation. Moderator: Anthony Gargaro, CSC.
Panelists: Mr. S. Tucker Taft, Intermetrics, Inc; Mr. Ken Arnold JavaSoft East; Mr. Mike Masters, Naval Surface Warfare Center; Mr. Robert Firth, SEI.
This panel session will examine the relative merits of Ada and Java in improving practices for disciplined software development. Panelists will present their perspective on whether these languages will achieve the expected benefits claimed by their proponents. Since both Ada and Java provide similar semantic models, one question becomes whether their combined influence can overcome less disciplined software development practices promoted by some other programming languages. The panel is fortunate to have leading authorities on both languages.
The Future of the Software Industry. A 2-part panel focusing first on the next 5-10 years (where Ada is sure to play), and then crystal-ball gazing across the whole 2nd half century of computing!
Part 1: Future of the Ada Community -- Reactions to Change.
Moderator: Mark Gerhardt, Lockheed Martin Space and Missile System.
Panelists: Dr. Charles B. Engle, AJPO; Mr. S. Tucker Taft, Intermetrics, Inc.; Ms. Maretta T. Holden, NRC Committee; Mr. Brad Balfour, ACM SIGAda, CACI; Mr. Oliver Cole, ARA.
A panel of experts will share their insight and opinions on the dynamic changes impacting the Ada community.
Discussions will include:
Part 2 - The Future Role of Programming Languages.
Moderator: Mr. Hal Hart, TRW.
Panelists: Robert Firth, SEI; Elliot Koffman, Temple Univ.; Mark Gerhardt, Lockheed Martin Space and Missile System.
Radical changes are certain in the future of programming languages. A simple, continuously evolving level of abstraction of languages has served the field well for 50 years.Technologies for formally representing and translating languages, and the methods for teaching their effective application, have continually evolved with these trends. But, it may be that the heyday of 3rd generation languages such as Ada, Java, COBOL, FORTRAN, and C++ (and popular 4GLs for some domains) will sooner or later give way to very different paradigms of serious software development, including reuse-driven processes, visual programming, reverse engineering & reengineering, specification languages, automatic program generators, and approaches no yet envisioned. Or, maybe the biggest change is that most computer applications in the future will be developed by individuals with very different backgrounds than the vast majority of us ("all the world's a programmer"), for very different purposes, and by appropriately different methods. Panelists will debate the prospect of of continuity into 5GLs, etc. versus the new paradigms obscuring the whole concepts of programming language usage, and whether Ada's unique features might make it the longest lasting 3GL.
