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Archive-name: computer-lang/Ada/comp-lang-ada/part2
Comp-lang-ada-archive-name: comp-lang-ada/part2
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Last-modified: 24 May 1996
Last-posted: 22 April 1996
comp.lang.ada
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Recent changes to this FAQ are listed in the first section after the table
of contents. This document is under explicit copyright.
This is part 2 of a 3-part posting; part 1 contains the table of contents.
Part 3 begins with question 7; it should be the next posting in this thread.
Part 1 should be the previous posting in this thread.
4: Compilers
4.1: Is there a list of validated Ada compilers?
Yes, indeed, there is. The latest list can be retrieved by anonymous
FTP. For Ada 83, it is in
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/compilers/83val/83vcl.txt
(if the list is updated during the month, the previous one is
replaced).
And there is also a (non-empty!) list of validated Ada 95 compilers at
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/compilers/95val/95vcl.txt
4.2: Is there a free Ada compiler (or interpreter)?
There ARE indeed free Ada systems, and there is even choice: Ada/Ed
for Ada 83, and AVLAda9X and GNAT for Ada 95. A complete list is
available at
http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/Resources/Compilers/Free_Ada.html
(Strictly speaking these are free to distribute but NOT
"public-domain". They are "free"--under copyright conditions known as
"GNU Copyleft". In short: there is no warranty, and you are allowed to
copy, modify, and distribute them; but you can't charge anyone for the
software itself, and if the software (necessarily including source
code) is further distributed, it must be done under the same
conditions--i.e. copyable, with sources and modifications, available
to everyone else, etc.)
4.2.1: GNAT, The GNU NYU Ada Translator -- An Ada 95 Compiler
GNAT is a compiler for Ada 95 that accepts Ada 95 source code and
generates executable (machine) code (GNAT is a compiler and does not,
repeat: DOES NOT, generate C code). It is based on the Free Software
Foundation (FSF)'s gcc, a portable compilation system for a variety of
languages. GNAT generates relatively good code, and is expected to
improve further as its developers transition from developing initial
functionality to optimizing it. GNAT supports tasking for many
computer platforms, but it does NOT support tasking on MS-DOS at this
time. For tasking with GNAT and a PC platform, consider using other
operating systems such as Linux or OS/2 (while we're at it, if you use
DOS, consider using a real operating system :-).
GNAT is available from the New York University host, in directory
ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat. There are versions for UNIX-based systems
(Sun, DEC, IBM, Next, ...), and versions for DOS, OS/2, and NT 386/486
systems. Usually the latest version is made available for both Sun
SPARC (SunOS 4.1) and OS/2 systems.
It is also available in the Public Ada Library (PAL -- formerly the
Ada Software Repository), under directory
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/languages/ada/compiler/gnat (Internet
address: 128.252.135.4). A mirror site of the PAL also carries GNAT,
directory: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/languages/ada/compiler/gnat.
You can also get a copy from the AdaIC Bulletin Board. But this is a
dial-up operation (703/614-0215), and since the files sizes are large,
connect times may be lengthy. The bulletin board is best used as a
back-up source for those who don't have Internet/FTP access.
General
(excerpted from "Free Source Code for GNAT 9X Compiler to be Available
on Internet", by Robert Dewar and Edmond Schonberg, New York
University, Ada Information Clearinghouse Newsletter August 1993)
The Computer Science Department of the Courant Institute of
Mathematical Sciences at New York University received a contract from
the Ada 9X Project Office, under the direction of Christine M.
Anderson, to develop a GNU/Ada system. The work was co-sponsored by
ARPA and the Ada Joint Program Office.
The final delivery was a full Ada 95 implementation with as much of
the core language and annexes implemented as possible.
Here is the official GNAT e-mail address:
report@gnat.com
This address is to be used specifically to report problems with
the currently available version of the GNAT system. Please be
as specific as possible in reporting problems.
OS/2 Version
The executables and sources for the OS/2 version of GNAT are split and
compressed into two files, each of which can fit on one 3.5-inch
high-density diskette. Although it is possible to install GNAT on an
OS/2 machine on FAT (MS-DOS-compatble) partition, such an installation
will not be fully functional. In fact, GNAT does not support
installations on FAT partitions. You will need about 8.5 MB of free
disk space after you have copied the appropriate files to your hard
drive. About half of this amount is taken up by the source code.
In case you want to modify and re-compile GNAT, you will need about 24
MB of free disk space after you have installed GNAT for OS/2 and
copied the necessary source files to your hard drive.
Ports
Several ports of GNAT have been produced by volunteers for a number of
additional platforms (e.g. SPARCStations Solaris 2.1, i386/i486 Linux,
DECstation (MIPS chip) Ultrix, DOS, SCO Unix). Users should allow time
for the volunteers to catch up with the new releases.
Note: The DOS version requires installation of DJGPP, DJ Delorie's
port of GCC, GNU loader (ld), and GNU assembler (as) to DOS. DJGPP
also includes the GO32 memory extender, which works with both VCPI and
DPMI standards, which allows working in a Microsoft Window. There is
information on DJGPP stored together with GNAT.
4.2.2: Ada/Ed -- An Interpreter for Ada 83
Ada/Ed is available for PCs, Unix-based machines, Amiga, and Atari
systems. The Ada/Ed interpreter for Ada 83 is available from the New
York University host, in directory ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/adaed
(Internet address 128.122.140.24). There you will find a version for
UNIX-based machines, and a version for 386/486 DOS machines.
Ada/Ed is a translator-interpreter for Ada. It is intended as a
teaching tool, and does not have the capacity, performance, or
robustness of commercial Ada compilers. Ada/Ed was developed at New
York University, as part of a long-range project in language
definition and software prototyping. The project produced the first
validated translator for Ada, in the form of an executable definition
of the language written in SETL. The SETL system served as design
document and prototype for the C version.
Ada/Ed was last validated under version 1.7 of the ACVC tests.
Therefore it is not currently a validated Ada system, and users can
expect to find small discrepancies between Ada/Ed and currently
validated compilers.
Apart from the 100-odd tests of ACVC 1.11 that Ada/Ed currently fails,
the major deficiency of the system is that, being an interpreter, it
does not implement most representation clauses, and thus does not
support systems programming close to the machine level.
4.2.3: GW-Ada/Ed -- a souped-up version of Ada/Ed for 386/486 DOS and
Macintosh machines
GW-Ada/Ed is available from the PAL, by anonymous FTP. The files are
located in subdirectories "dos" and "mac" of directory
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/languages/ada/compiler/adaed/gwu
This project was sponsored by The George Washington University, and in
part by the United States Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
This distribution contains the executables for GWAda, which consists
of the NYU Ada/Ed translator/interpreter system together with an
integrated editor developed by Prof. Arthur Vargas Lopes of the
Pontifical University at Porto Alegre, Brazil. Lopes began his work on
GWAda while he was a doctoral student at The George Washington
University. There is also in the DOS version a very nice extended
runtime facility, with interesting kinds of source tracing.
GWAda is being freely distributed at no charge. In the near future the
developers will make the source code available under the GNU General
Public License. Source code is not being provided because the system
is still in the developmental stage. Source code for Ada/Ed itself is
available from NYU (see above) and from PAL (see questions 9.1 and
9.3).
Note that under DOS you do not have to use the GWAda integrated
environment, but can execute the various parts of NYU Ada/Ed from the
DOS command line, as described in the NYU instructions.
System requirements:
* IBM PC Compatible, 386 or 486, running MS-DOS or PC-DOS, with at
least 3.6 MB available extended memory, and at least 5 MB free
hard-disk space.
* any Mac, System 7, with at least 2.5 MB of RAM, and around 10 MB
free hard-disk space. Note that the new version is PowerPC native
and blindingly fast (8-20 times faster than the 1.1 release).
4.3: What cheap (<500$) Ada compilers are available?
What follows is absolutely *not* exhaustive, but inexpensive
compilers are available, and some vendors offer educational discounts
or free programs for educational sites. Among those offering
educational discounts are DDC-I, Encore, Harris, IBM, Irvine Compiler,
OC Systems, Rational, R.R., Tartan, and Thomson Software Products
(ex-Alsys).
OC Systems: OC Systems will distribute PowerAda free to educational
institutions wishing to use the product for teaching purposes. Contact
by email info@ocsystems.com
Rational: Rational provides free software (Rational Apex) to
accredited educational institutions, including military academies, in
the United States and Canada. This is under its Software Engineering
for Educational Development (SEED) program. To receive information on
the program, send your contact information via e-mail to
SEED_Info@Rational.com
Rational also offers OpenAda for $99. (Rational Software Corporation,
2800 San Tomas Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051-0951; tel:
1-800-RAT-1212)
R.R. Software: R.R.'s Janus/Ada Professional Development System --
80386 MS-DOS -- regularly goes for $500. (R.R. Software, P.O. Box
1512, Madison, WI 53701; contact: Randall Brukardt 608/251-3133;
e-mail: rbrukardt@bix.com)
Thomson Software Products (US pricing only): FirstAda for 286 DOS is
$595. It will run on 286 and higher, and will generate applications
for any x86 PC. Comes with a full toolset. Thomson Software Products
does run specials on it periodically. Call Pat Michalowski at
619/457-2700 for more info.
Thomson Software Products offers the same compilation system for $144
to qualified educational institutions under its LEAP program. The
program also offers substantial educational discounts on other Thomson
Software Products products, as well as site license arrangements.
Contact Kathy Ruggiero at 617/270-0030 for more info.
4.4: Is there an Ada compiler for common machine X/common operating system Y?
There are hundreds of Ada compilers available on the market. Some
answers for Frequently Asked Compilers are listed below. If your
specific question is not answered here, check the comprehensive list
of validated Ada compilers (see 4.1).
4.4.1: For the Macintosh
It depends on whether you want a compiler for serious development or
just a learning tool. The free GW-Ada/Ed-Mac (see question 4.2.3) is
the latter; it works on all Mac architectures. GW-Ada is a nice
learning tool with an easy-to-use IDE, but it generates interpreted
virtual code, not Mac apps.
Other than that there is the Rational (ex-Meridian) OpenAda. OpenAda
is an Ada 83 compiler with a Toolbox binding and MPW 3.2, but Rational
has dropped it and is not going to upgrade it to Ada 95. It has one
limitation for large programs: Packages which contain more than 32K
bytes of data will compile, but not link. It works with System 7, and
has been reported both as working and not-working on PowerPCs (maybe
due to a problem with Inits). It can be ordered from D.C. Heath (price
Mac version 12 disks plus documentation (35630-1) PC versions Five 3
1/2" disks plus documentation (35629-8) Nine 5 1/4" disks plus
documentation (34139-8)
A GNAT for Macintosh is in the works.
4.4.2: Native compilers for OS/2
There are several good fully validated compilers. E.g. Thomson
Software Products (ex-Alsys) has one, and has a partial Ada 95
compiler for Windows; RR Software specializes in the Intel x86
architecture (AETECH repackages and distributes their compilers as
IntegrAda) -- and they advertise a partial Ada 95 compiler. GNAT is
available for OS/2.
4.5: How can I contact Ada compiler vendors?
Here is a non-exhaustive list (possibly out-of-date, for the moment)
of email and phone contacts for questions and/or sales.
Active Engineering Technologies, Inc.
WWW http://www.pcada.com/pcada/
sales
email: ada_info@pcada.com
Tel: (619) 414-9001
Fax: (619) 414-9192
Ada Core Technologies (ACT)
WWW http://www.gnat.com/
questions
email: support@gnat.com
Tel: (212) 620-7300
Fax: (212) 807-0162
AETECH, Inc.: see Active Engineering Technologies
Alsys: see Thomson Software Products
Convex
WWW http://www.convex.com/
questions
allison@convex.com (Brian Allison)
Tel: (214) 497-4346
Cray
WWW http://www.cray.com/
questions
det@cray.com (Dave Thersleff)
Tel: (612) 683-5701
sales
svc@cray.com (Sylvia Crain)
Tel: (505) 988-2468
DEC
WWW http://www.digital.com/home.html
DDC-I
WWW http://www.dknet.dk/ddci/
sales
sale@ddci.dk
Tel: (602) 275-7172
Tel: +45 45 87 11 44
Green Hills Software Inc.
WWW http://ghs.com/ghs/html/ghs.html
questions
support@ghs.com
sales
eric@ghs.com (Eric Schacherer)
Tel: (805) 965-6044
Harris Computer Systems Corporation
WWW http://www.hcsc.com/
questions
jeffh@ssd.csd.harris.com (Jeff Hollensen)
IBM: see OC Systems Inc.
Intermetrics
WWW http://www.inmet.com/
questions
ryer@inmet.inmet.com (Mike Ryer)
Irvine Compiler Corp (ICC)
questions
info@irvine.com
Meridian: see Rational Software Corporation
OC Systems Inc.
WWW http://ocsystems.com/
questions
Email: info@ocsystems.com
sales
Tel: (703) 359-8160
Fax: (703) 359-8161
Rational Software Corporation
WWW http://www.rational.com/
sales
product_info@rational.com
Tel: (408) 496-3600 or (800) RAT-1212
R.R. Software
sales
Tel: (800) Pc-Ada-4u or (800) 722-3248
rBrukardt@bix.com (Randy Brukardt)
Tartan
questions
customer-support@tartan.com
Tel: (412) 856-3600 (ext 150)
sales
info@tartan.com
Tel: (800) 856-5255 or (412) 856-3600
TeleSoft: see Thomson Software Products
Thomson Software Products (ex-Alsys)
WWW http://www.thomsoft.com/
questions
adasupport@thomsoft.com
sales
marketing@thomsoft.com
Tel: (619) 457-2700
(800) 833-0042 (ActivAda only)
Verdix: see Rational Software Corporation
Note: The AdaIC's Validated Compiler List (see 4.1) now contains
addresses, usually including e-mail, for compiler-vendor points of
contact.
4.6: Are Ada 95 compilers compatible with Ada 83?
Yes, absolutely. Ada 95 is very close to upwards compatible with Ada
83, so you will find that an Ada 95 compiler is in practice
"compatible" with the Ada 83 compiler you have used or are using. The
compatibility really depends on what kind of code you have written, so
one should understand what has evolved, what was considered broken and
is now fixed, as well as what is new. There are two excellent
documents that will help immensely in that respect:
* Changes to Ada -- 1987 to 1995, in a Postscript 362KB file:
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/standards/95lrm_rat
/v6.0/chg83.ps
also available in a text-only 207KB file:
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/standards/95lrm_rat
/v6.0/chg83.doc
* Ada 9X Compatibility Guide, by Bill Taylor, in directory
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/docs/compat-guide
Furthermore, GNAT has a -gnat83 switch which enforces most of the Ada
83 restrictions, and other compilers have similar 95/83 modes.
_________________________________________________________________
5: Organizations that deal with Ada and Ada issues
5.1: Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO)
The AJPO is part of the U.S. Department of Defense; it was created to
facilitate the implementation of the DoD's Software Initiative (Ada)
throughout the Services, and maintain the integrity of the Ada
language. The AJPO sponsors the AdaIC (see below).
NOTE: The AJPO is scheduled to shut down in 1997. Its functions will
probably be transferred to other entities.
The address is:
AJPO
CODE JEKS
5600 Columbia Pike
Falls-church, VA 22041
phone: (703) 681-2459
email: ajpo@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
The current staff are:
Chief
Dr. Charles B. ("Chuck") Engle, Jr. --
engle1c@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
Acting AJPO Program Manager
Ms. Joan McGarity -- mcgarity@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
Contracts Liaison
Mr. Gary Shupe -- shupeg@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
5.2: Ada Information Clearinghouse (AdaIC)
The Ada Information Clearinghouse (AdaIC) provides a full spectrum of
information on Ada to anyone interested in finding out more about the
programming language. IIT Research Institute operates the AdaIC for
the Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO).
Their address is:
Ada Information Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 1866
Falls Church, VA 22041
phone: (703) 681-2466
fax: (703) 681-2869
or
(800) Adaic 11 (232-4211)
email: adainfo@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
WWW: http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us
The AdaIC publishes a quarterly newsletter, which contains current
news, Ada conference reports, announcements from the AJPO Director,
and articles on projects using Ada. If you would like to receive a
copy of the AdaIC newsletter, call and request a subscription. There
is no charge. The AdaIC also regularly updates and publishes more than
70 separate information flyers. Flyer topics include:
* Ada Validated Compilers
* Ada News and Current Events
* Ada Usage
* Ada 9X Project
* On-line sources of Ada Information
* Ada Bibliographies
* Ada Compiler Validation and Evaluation
* Resources for Ada Education and Training
* Ada Software, Tools, and Interfaces
* Ada Regulations, Policies, and Mandates
* Ada Historical Information
One of the most commonly requested flyers is the Validated Compilers
List. This list, which is updated monthly, contains Ada compilers that
have been validated by the AJPO. For the most current information on
validated Ada compilers, contact the AdaIC.
Practically all AdaIC flyers are available via anonymous FTP from
their host, in directory ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public
5.3: Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Ada (ACM
SIGAda)
SIGAda's bimonthly publication is Ada Letters.
Price for non-members: $55 (Annual ACM membership dues, $82; students,
$25).
Otherwise it costs $20 per year to ACM members; $10 per year to ACM
student members.
The address is:
Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
212/869-7440
SIGAda also has a number of committees and working groups on a variety
of topics.
5.4: ISO Working Group 9 (ISO-IEC/JTC1/SC22/WG9, WG9 for short)
This is a working group that deals with Ada within the International
Standardization Organization. For more information, you can find
online information about WG9 at
http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/Ammo/Associations/WG9.html
There are several Rapporteur (rap) groups with WG9:
* ARG: Ada Rapporteur Group -- Comments and Interpretations
* CRG: Character Rapporteur Group -- International Character Sets
* IRG: Information Systems Rapporteur Group -- Decimal Arithmetic
* NRG: Numerics Rapporteur Group -- NUMWG packages
* RRG: Real-Time Rapporteur Group -- ExTRA
* SRG: SQL Interfaces Rapporteur Group -- SAMeDL
* URG: Uniformity Rapporteur Group -- Portability through Uniformity
* XRG: Ada 9X Rapporteur Group
Ada Rapporteur Group (ARG):
This is the group responsible for evaluating comments on the
Ada standard. Officially, the group is only developing a
technical report addressing comments and questions concerning
the ISO standard for Ada. (Arcane ISO rules prevent the ARG or
WG9 from issuing "official" interpretations of a standard.) In
practice, when a response to a comment is approved by WG9, the
response is taken into account by the Ada Validation Office and
affects the test suite. The documents containing comments on
the standard and ARG responses are called "Ada Commentaries"
and are given numbers of the form AI-ddddd/vv, where vv is a
version number.
Comments and questions about the Ada standard should be sent to
ada-comment@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us, using the format
specified in the Ada standard. You can receive e-mail
notification of an update to a commentary (optionally including
the text of the commentary) by sending a request to
ada-comment@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us. Commentaries are
generally updated only a few times each year. The text of all
commentaries is available by anonymous FTP from the AdaIC site
in the account public/ada-comment. A detailed discussion of ARG
procedures and the format of commentaries can be found in the
ada-comment account in the file arg-procedures.doc. A
reformatted copy of the Reference Manual that includes
WG9-approved commentaries used to be available from Karl Nyberg
(karl@grebyn.com), but note that distribution of the Ada 83
AARM has been transferred by Grebyn Corporation to the Ada
Resource Association (3.1.1).
Uniformity Rapporteur Group (URG)
Responsible for evaluating Uniformity Issues (UIs). UIs
specify/recommend specific choices for the compiler
implementor, where the language permits implementation freedom.
The "canonical example" is UI-8, on integer types. This UI
recommends that integers be at least 32 bits, and provides
names for the other predefined integer types. The goal of the
URG and the UI's is to further Ada portability by providing
uniform implementations of implementation-dependent features
commonly used by Ada applications.
_________________________________________________________________
6: Tools
6.1: Is there an Ada-mode for Emacs?
There are 3 Ada modes for Emacs:
* the most recent and powerful one is available by FTP in the file
emacs-ada-mode-2.12.tar.gz in directory ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat
This is still work under development but it is already quite
usable. The main features are:
+ compile and parse the errors (with the cursor at the right
line AND column)
+ highlight keywords and comments
+ create skeletons for all Ada constructs (both 83 and 9x)
+ goto next (previous) subprogram/package/task
+ goto beginning of syntactic construct
+ name completion (works across file boundaries, if the Xref
output from gnatf is available)
+ TAB ---> indent (almost always correctly)
+ untabify, remove trailing spaces automatically before saving
+ C-c C-f ---> format subprogram specs in GNAT style
+ and much more to come...
The 2 main developers are Markus Heritsch (who works under the
direction of Franco Gasperoni at ENST, Paris) and Rolf Ebert
(Munich, Germany).
* electric-ada, by Steven D. Litvintchouk of Mitre Corp (available
from?--NO INFORMATION); and
* gnu-ada mode. Here is a small description of the features of this
mode:
Compile programs within emacs
Run compiler as inferior of Emacs, and parse its error
messages. NOTE: I believe that this feature will only
work with VADS, but it might have been tailored to work
with other compilers.
Ada dired
It supplies a form of dired that helps manage the VADS
environment, and it adds ADA vads commands into ada mode.
Unlike a previous dired-ada implementation, this version
uses the existing dired mode functions except where there
is unresolvable conflict. Thus, this is more like a minor
mode to dired. Very important because on actual version
of emacs 19(beta), in fact lemacs (lucid emacs), dired
has changed and we can no longer use gnu-ada mode :-(
you can consult the Ada Language Reference Manual (*) during
parsing error message.
(*)You can get one in e.g. the Public Ada Library.
smart indentation
Tries hard to do all the indenting automatically.
Emphasizes correct insertion of new code using smart
templates.
Smart template commands (bnf)
This is essentially a bnf processor/language-sensitive
editor. The next message will give you an ada bnf file
that you can use within ada-mode to expand nonterminals.
But you can roll your own grammars (e.g., your design
grammar or an ADL) and put them in *.bnf files ... The
BNF rule set is stored as a list of rules.
debugging Ada programs within emacs
A facility is provided for the simultaneous display of
the source code in one window, while using a.db to step
through a function in the other. A small arrow "=>" in
the source window, indicates the current line.
Move from procedure to procedure or package to package
tags Ada
and other things ...
You can find the gnu-ada mode in where did it go? as well as in the
PAL, under directory
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/languages/ada/swtools/emacs/adamode.
6.2: Are there versions of lex and yacc that generate Ada code?
The Arcadia project produced the tools aflex and ayacc, both written
in Ada and producing Ada code. They can be found in directory
ftp://liege.ics.uci.edu/pub/irus (Internet address: 128.195.1.5,
128.195.13.1).
6.3: Where can I get a yacc/ayacc grammar to read Ada code?
A yacc and lex grammar for Ada 83 is available via FTP from the
comp.compiler archives at primost.cs.wisc.edu and via e-mail from the
compilers server at compilers-server@iecc.cambridge.ma.us .
A yacc grammar for Ada 95 is available in file
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/standards/95lrm_rat/grammar9x.y
and a lex grammar for Ada 95 is available in file
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/standards/95lrm_rat/lexer9x.l
6.4: What is Anna, and where can I get it?
Anna is a language for formally specifying Ada programs. It extends
Ada with various different kinds of specification constructs from ones
as simple as assertions, to as complex as algebraic specifications. A
whole lot of tools have been implemented for Anna, including:
1. The standard DIANA extension packages, parsers, pretty-printers.
2. Semantic checker (very similar to standard semantic checkers for
programming languages).
3. Specification analyzer -- this is a tool used to test a
specification for correctness before a program based on the
specification is written.
4. Annotation transformer -- this transforms Anna specification
constructs into checks on the Ada program that is developed based
on the specification. This tool is currently in the process of
being enhanced so that it can handle at least all the legal Ada
programs in the ACVC test-suite.
5. Runtime debugger -- The instrumented program output by the
annotation transormer can be run with a special debugger that
allows program debugging based on formal specifications.
All tools have been developed in Ada and are therefore extremely
portable. Anna has been ported to many platforms, details of which can
be obtained from the person who handles Anna releases. You can send
e-mail to anna-request@anna.stanford.edu for answers to such
questions. Actually, there is also a mailing list --
anna-users@anna.stanford.edu. Send e-mail to the earlier address if
you want to get on this list.
One could view Anna and its toolset as a *very* significant
enhancement of assertions that are provided in languages such as C
(using the assert statement). The enhancements are in the form of both
(1) many more high level specification constructs; and (2) more
sophisticated tool support.
However, there are those who would not even wish to compare Anna with
C assertions! :-)
The Anna tools may be found in directory
ftp://anna.stanford.edu/pub/anna.
6.5: What is DRAGOON, and where can I get it?
DRAGOON is a language, implemented as an Ada preprocessor (i.e., it
generates pure Ada). DRAGOON is truly object-oriented, including
complete support for multiple inheritance. A very nice feature of
DRAGOON not found in many OO languages is the concept of "behavioral"
inheritance. This allows you to keep the concurrent behavior of object
separated from the object class hierarchy.
The book by Colin Atkinson, "Object-Oriented Reuse, Concurrency and
Distribution: An Ada-Based Approach" (ACM Press, 1991, ISBN:
0201565277), is very well written and describes the language
succinctly and completely.
For a copy of the preprocessor, contact:
Mr. Andrea Di Maio
TXT Ingegneria Informatica S.p.A.
Via Socrate, 41
20128 Milan, ITALY
phone: + 39-2-2700 1001
6.6: Where can I get language translators?
The AdaIC maintains a Products and Tools Database on its bulletin
board (703/614-0215), and one of the categories is translators. (The
list of products should not be considered exhaustive; if you wish to
suggest additions, please contact the AdaIC.) Besides access to the
database via the bulletin board, you can also call the AdaIC
(800-AdaIC-11 or 703/685-1477) and ask for a customized search.
Should I?
In addition to all the usual caveats, however, it should also be noted
that translation itself is a controversial issue.
When a project makes the transition to Ada from some other language,
one question that arises is whether to translate older code into Ada.
Among the immediate considerations are how much of the code can in
fact be translated by a program intended for that purpose, versus how
much will still require re-coding by hand. And will the translated
code suffer a significant loss in speed of execution? Further, a
project must consider whether the translated code will reflect sound
software engineering and be readily understandable and modifiable. Or
will the translated code be merely "Fortranized Ada" or "Cobolized
Ada", or the like, possibly retaining limitations present in the
earlier code? Portability is also a problem.
The resolution of such issues will require an understanding of the
earlier code, an appreciation of the similarities and differences
between its language and Ada, and an evaluation of the translation
program under consideration.
6.7: What is ASIS?
The Ada Semantic Interface Specification is a layered
vendor-independent open architecture. ASIS queries and services
provide a consistent interface to information within the Ada Ada
compilation environment. Thus it is envisioned that tool makers should
be able to create ASIS clients--shielded and free from the
implementation details of each Ada compiler vendor's proprietary
compilation environment and intermediate representation(s).
ASIS Version 1.1.1 is the last version of the ASIS83 (Ada═83) de facto
industry standard; it was finalized, together with the corresponding
test suite for ASIS implementations, in June 1994.
The current version of ASIS 95 is ASIS 2.0.E (November 1995). As
errors, misunderstandings, and clarifications are discovered, the ASIS
Working Group will release new edited versions of the specification.
For more information, there is an ASIS WWW server at
http://info.acm.org/sigada/WG/asiswg/asiswg.html
ASIS versions are available in directory
ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/public/AdaIC/work-grp/asiswg
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