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MASAD-82-16 1 (1982-01-27)

handle is hein.gao/gaobabcwh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: tit COMPTROLLER GMNERA. OF THE UNITED STATES WASHINGTON D.C. 2U4 ESYR1CT . - !ot to be released oiwt-!* f! Oeerai B-199008 Account1 'rg e excc t on the ba ls o 1 spe; isko a proval by the Oftice G Co gressional Reiationgs JANUARY 27, 1982 The Honorable Jack Brooks Chairman, Committee on Government Operations RELEASED House of Representatives Dear Mr. Chairman: Subject: DOD Instruction 5000.5X, Standard Instruction Set Architectures For Embedded Computers i(MASAD-82-16) On July 30, 1981, you requested that we review the Department of Defense (DOD) plans to implement proposed DOD Instruction 5000.5X. Your request raised a number of questions about the po- tential impact of implementing the proposed instruction. We have responded to your five specific questions in enclosure I. As we understand it, the primary objective of Instruction 5000.5X is curtailment of high costs resulting from hardware and software proliferation, and in particular, logistics support costs in the field. To accomplish this, DOD has chosen to limit the number of architectures that could be used for the design and development of computer hardware and software for the tactical environment. Moreover, DOD would require ownership of standard architectures for military-embedded computers. Although this proposed instruction has merit when considered in context of the hardware/software environment that existed during the mid- 1970s, our evaluation raises some serious issues that challenge its validity in the time frame of the 1980s. Some of the more salient points for consideration are: --Dramatic advances have been made in software technology. DOD has recognized that a lack of a standard programming language is a major contributor to the high cost of devel- oping and maintaining software for military applications. DOD is to be commended for its initiative to fill that void by developing a common high-order programming language called Ada. Ada very specifically aims to readily adapt a very wide variety of DOD applications to most present (and future)- computer architectures. Ada can potentially encom- pass the particularly useful aspects of future architectural advances and make .their gains available to users, without their having to learn and worry about how the gains were (954029) 117450 7 7

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