4 ms·

My thought exactly. Warning! Warning! NullPointerException! No, that's a contract I do not want.

by ccleve 12y ago

iLoch 12y ago
I remember reading somewhere that these guys get all the time they want to program these systems, and the environment is very relaxed - I suppose for this very reason.
- curiously 12y ago
  Write one line of code everyday, make sure it's bug free. I wouldn't be surprised if they used functional programming and avoiding object orientated programming.
  - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
    Why wouldn't they be using Ada? That's exactly what is was developed for.[1] Does anybody know if Ada is still in use for writing new applications? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_%28programming_language%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_%28programming_language%29
    - mparlane 12y ago
      http://search.lockheedmartinjobs.com/ShowJob/Id/25009/Software-Engineer-ava,-C-,-ADA-Clearance-needed-MST-Manassas/ http://search.lockheedmartinjobs.com/ShowJob/Id/25009/Softwa...
    - ObviousScience 12y ago
      You can take it a step further and use SPARK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARK_%28programming_language%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARK_%28programming_language%2...
      - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
        Excellent. I wasn't aware of SPARK. It could have been useful for Toyota, rather than the ad-hoc mess they wound up with controlling their cars. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8905718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8905718
    - kjs3 12y ago
      Boeing for one still uses a lot of Ada for critical flight systems. The 787 flight control software for one.
  - berkut 12y ago
    I left the defence industry eight years ago now, but back then (and based on that job posting below it looks like it's possibly still going on), it was a weird combination of ADA, C++ (sometimes C instead) and Java. In the late 90s, there was a big push in both the US and the UK defence industries to start using off-the-shelf software more, which meant moving to C++ from ADA. But you'd sometimes have weird systems of ADA being used for the "safety-critical" stuff, which interfaced via CORBA with C++ code controlling it (as a bigger system), and would then sometimes be exposed to the user again via CORBA in Java UI code! (never saw this (Java) on aircraft thankfully, only ships) A certain UK system also had code for controlling the HUD in ADA, but the main flight control system in C++, again via CORBA interfaces.. This wasn't always the case - some Solaris stuff on submarines was all C++ (with Sun's compiler), but it was frightening the complexity of it.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- gaius 12y ago
  See http://www.fastcompany.com/28121/they-write-right-stuff http://www.fastcompany.com/28121/they-write-right-stuff for similar

My thought exactly. Warning! Warning! NullPointerException! No, that's a contract I do not want.

by ccleve 12y ago

My thought exactly. Warning! Warning! NullPointerException! No, that's a contract I do not want.

iLoch 12y ago

I remember reading somewhere that these guys get all the time they want to program these systems, and the environment is very relaxed - I suppose for this very reason.

curiously 12y ago
Write one line of code everyday, make sure it's bug free. I wouldn't be surprised if they used functional programming and avoiding object orientated programming.
- PhantomGremlin 12y ago
  Why wouldn't they be using Ada? That's exactly what is was developed for.[1] Does anybody know if Ada is still in use for writing new applications? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_%28programming_language%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_%28programming_language%29
  - mparlane 12y ago
    http://search.lockheedmartinjobs.com/ShowJob/Id/25009/Software-Engineer-ava,-C-,-ADA-Clearance-needed-MST-Manassas/ http://search.lockheedmartinjobs.com/ShowJob/Id/25009/Softwa...
  - ObviousScience 12y ago
    You can take it a step further and use SPARK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARK_%28programming_language%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARK_%28programming_language%2...
    - PhantomGremlin 12y ago
      Excellent. I wasn't aware of SPARK. It could have been useful for Toyota, rather than the ad-hoc mess they wound up with controlling their cars. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8905718 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8905718
  - kjs3 12y ago
    Boeing for one still uses a lot of Ada for critical flight systems. The 787 flight control software for one.
- berkut 12y ago
  I left the defence industry eight years ago now, but back then (and based on that job posting below it looks like it's possibly still going on), it was a weird combination of ADA, C++ (sometimes C instead) and Java. In the late 90s, there was a big push in both the US and the UK defence industries to start using off-the-shelf software more, which meant moving to C++ from ADA. But you'd sometimes have weird systems of ADA being used for the "safety-critical" stuff, which interfaced via CORBA with C++ code controlling it (as a bigger system), and would then sometimes be exposed to the user again via CORBA in Java UI code! (never saw this (Java) on aircraft thankfully, only ships) A certain UK system also had code for controlling the HUD in ADA, but the main flight control system in C++, again via CORBA interfaces.. This wasn't always the case - some Solaris stuff on submarines was all C++ (with Sun's compiler), but it was frightening the complexity of it.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
gaius 12y ago
See http://www.fastcompany.com/28121/they-write-right-stuff http://www.fastcompany.com/28121/they-write-right-stuff for similar