Secondly, when companies say "we can't hire enough X" what they really mean is "X are too expensive". They probably have some strict salary bands and nobody had the power to change them.
In other words there are plenty of expensive good Ada and C++ programmers, but there are only cheap crap C++ programmers.
Using C++ vs wishing an Ada ecosystem into existence may have been one of the few successful cost saving measures.
Keep in mind that these are not normal programmers. They need to have a security clearance and fulfill specific requirements.
You’ll be interviewed, your family, your neighbors, your school teachers, your past bosses, your cousin once removed, your sheriff, your past lovers, and even your old childhood friends. Your life goes under a microscope.
If I were back on the job market, I’d be demanding a big premium to go through it again. It’s very intrusive, puts significant limitations on where you can go, and adds significant job uncertainty (since your job is now tied to your clearance).
Why require that companies use a specific programming language instead of requiring that the end product is good? > And the F35 and America's combat readiness would be in a better place today with Ada instead of C++.
What is the evidence for this? Companies selling Ada products would almost certainly agree, since they have a horse in the race. Ada does not automatically lead to better, more robust, safer or fully correct software.
Your line of argument is dangerous and dishonest, as real life regrettably shows.[0]
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_flight_V88
> The failure has become known as one of the most infamous and expensive software bugs in history.[2] The failure resulted in a loss of more than US$370 million.[3]
> The launch failure brought the high risks associated with complex computing systems to the attention of the general public, politicians, and executives, resulting in increased support for research on ensuring the reliability of safety-critical systems. The subsequent automated analysis of the Ariane code (written in Ada) was the first example of large-scale static code analysis by abstract interpretation.[9]
Relative to what? There are formal verification tools for other languages. I have heard Ada/SPARK is good, but I do not know the veracity of that. And Ada companies promoting Ada have horses in the race.
And Ada didn't prevent the Ada code in Ariane 5 from being a disaster.
> The programming language is just a small piece of the puzzle. But an important one.
100% true, but the parent of the original post that he agreed with said:
> And the F35 and America's combat readiness would be in a better place today with Ada instead of C++.
What is the proof for that, especially considering events like Ariane 5?
And Ada arguably has technical and non-technical drawbacks relative to many other languages.
When I tried Ada some weeks ago for a tiny example, I found it cumbersome in some ways. Is the syntax worse and more verbose than even C++? Maybe that is just a learning thing, though. Even with a mandate, Ada did not catch on.
