Can programming language influence correctness?
Languages affect the way we think about problems:
"The tools we use have a profound (and devious) influence
on our thinking habits, and, therefore on our thinking abilities?"
Dijkstra, 1982
Additional experimental evidence:
C130J software written in a variety of languages by a variety
of vendors.
All certified to DO?178B standards (FAA).
Then subjected to a major IV&V exercise by the MoD
Significant, safety?related errors found in Level A certified
software
Residual error rate of Ada code on aircraft was one tenth
that of code written in C.
Residual error rate of SPARK code (Ada subset) one tenth
that of the Ada code.
