Ada - (named for Ada Lovelace (1811-1852), arguably the worlds first
computer programmer.) Jean Ichbiahs team at CII Honeywell, for the U.S.
Department of Defense, 1979. Ada is a large, complex block-structured
language aimed primarily at embedded computer applications. It has
facilities for real-time response, concurrency, hardware access, and
reliable run-time error handling. In support of large-scale software
engineering, it emphasizes strong typing, data abstraction and
encapsulation. The type system uses name equivalence and includes both
subtypes and derived types. Both fixed and floating point numerical types
are supported.
Control flow is fully bracketed: if-then-elsif-end if, case-is-when-end
case, loop-exit-end loop, goto. Subprogram parameters are in, out, or
inout. Variables imported from other packages may be hidden or directly
visible. Operators may be overloaded, and so may enumeration literals.
There are user-defined exceptions and exception handlers.
An Ada program consists of a set of packages encapsulating data objects
and their related operations. A package has a separately compilable body
and interface. Ada permits generic packages and subroutines, possibly
parametrized.
Ada programming places a heavy emphasis on multitasking. Tasks are
synchronized by the rendezvous, in which a task waits for one of its
subroutines to be executed by another. The conditional entry makes it
possible for a task to test whether an entry is ready. The selective wait
waits for either of two entries or waits for a limited time.
"Reference Manual for the Ada Programming Language", ANSI/MIL STD
1815A, U.S. DoD (Jan 1983). Earlier draft versions appeared in July 1980
and July 1982. ANSI 9183, ISO 1987. Russian: GOST 27831-88.
info: adainfo@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu
ftp repository: wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
ftp info: ajpo.sei.cmu.edu
ftp interpreters: stars.rosslyn.unisys.com:pub/ACE_8.0, for SunOS
AdaEd compiler/interpreter for Unix, MS-DOS, Atari ST, Amiga
wuarchive.wustl.edu:amiga/languages/ada/AdaEd1.11.0a.bin.lzh for Amiga
cs.nyu.edu:pub/adaed
Comments, Experience, Additions
Next Language: Ada 9X