IT companies' acceptance of and attitudes towards Ada

A survey was carried out to establish the Ada countries' knowledge about itself and the market potential of the work they were engaged in. Some 62 organisations responses were received (25%) from 10 countries. Though many are well informed, the effect of distance in such a dispersed effort weakens actions. Ada Europe plays a crucial role in this, outside of the large SIG Ada organisation. The delay in validated compilers of up to two years should be removed largely by the end of 1985, with Europe notifying a higher proportion of proposed validations than to date. Average budget overruns over 50% indicate severe difficulties in implementations, but a wider range of problems were noted than just tasking and generics and highly correlated with lack of comprehension. The early indications of the adoption of SE methodology by the Ada implementors indicate a desire to have a realistic set of functionalities in an APSE. Until some of these are provided, state of the art in SEM will not advance via Ada. The markets for Ada are impossible to assess accurately. Companies who have market studies do not release them, many more feel the word "military" is sufficient. Figures available show that relative to expectations of 1982/83, Ada penetration in 1985 is far below expectations. A sizeable public and private sector is emerging, not hampered by the side issue of validation and clamouring for more intelligence from what is seen as a "closed" military activity.