Was Ada Used For Easier Jobs?
VADS was not a perfect laboratory for comparing languages: each feature was (normally) done in only one language. What if C was used for the hardest problems and Ada was used for easier problems? Unfortunately difficulty of project is not easily measured independent of language. Most experts describe real-time code as the most expensive to build and integrate; Ada was used for most of the real time needs of VADS. Experts also agree that sheer size of modules will produce bugs with non-linear growth; C was used for the biggest, oldest sections of VADS. Our experience indicates that dependence on external, changing entities such as OSs, object formats, and optimization requests are one of the most troublesome burdens for development; all of VADS has these sorts of dependencies, though some more than others. The C language was used for older parts of VADS, and those features directly associated with the older parts of VADS, including the core VADS front end(>200k lines), the core debugger
