Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: hpb@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Harry P Bloomberg) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Embedded S/W in Desert-Storm weapons Message-ID: <1991Jan23.032823.435@cbnews.att.com> Date: 23 Jan 91 03:28:23 GMT References: <1991Jan22.015149.20141@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: University of Pittsburgh, CIS Lines: 31 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Harry P Bloomberg In article <1991Jan22.015149.20141@cbnews.att.com> gideony@microsoft.UUCP (Gideon YUVAL) writes: > > >From: gideony@microsoft.UUCP (Gideon YUVAL) > >Does anyone know what programming languages were used in the embedded >software of the various Desert-Shield weapons? > I spent many years writing embedded software for defense conctactors, so I think I can answer this. Considering that most of the weapons now in use are actually rather old (5-15 years), I would imagine that many were written in a combination of Fortran and assembly language. Most Air Force avionics were probably written in Jovial, which may be best thought of as Pascal in a Blue Suit. I'd be real surprized if any lines of Ada are being dropped on Saddam (although a few compiliers are so large that they would probably do some great damage.) I think it's also safe to say that if the initial reports of success of all these smart weapons are true, that the sudden breeze you feel is a huge sigh of relief from military software engineers. I can just imagine some software manager saying something like, "I love the smell of software in the morning..." Harry Bloomberg