Information systems support in Ada 9X

Abstract

Although Ada was originally designed for embedded systems programming, it is in fact a general-purpose language and is especially well suited for developing large applications with stringent reliability and maintainability requirements. In the Ada 9X revision [1, 2, 3], a concerted effort is being made to attract users from other application areas, with special focus on Information Systems, the domain that likely offers the largest opportunity for expansion of the Ada user base in the mid 1990's. In this paper we will summarize the new Ada 9X language features and supplemental packages that have been proposed to satisfy the needs of Information Systems [4], and provide the rationale for the principal choices. The enhancements fall into several categories:

• ▪ Decimal fixed-point types

• ▪ Standard library units for character and string handling

• ▪ Support for interfacing to foreign systems and languages

This work is sponsored by USAF Contract F08635-90-C-0066 to Intermetrics, Inc.