Ada95AbriefHistory.ppt

Ada95: A brief History 1975-1979: strawman-steelman requirements, Pascal is base 1981 : Green wins, becomes preliminary Ada 1983 : ANSI Standard, first validated compiler 1987 : ISO Standard 1990-1994 : Revision Process 1995 : ANSI - ISO Ada 95 Standard 1995 : First validated GNAT compiler Design principles Software Engineering: programming in the large Readability over writability Rigorous standard for portability Precise semantics Built-in concurrency Strong-Typing: all unsafe code is explicit Ada, C++ and Java Big languages win strong typing : Ada, C++, Java Generics : Ada ? C++ Concurrency : Ada ? Java Packages: Ada?? C++ and Java Ahead of its time in design Out of step in implementation Between language generations Key Goals Readability : between COBOL and APL strong typing : compile, don’t debug Programming in the large: package it Exception Handling: Murphy is always right Data abstraction : apples are not oranges Object orientation : Dispatch and inherit Tasking : walk, chew gum, etc. Generic units : the easiest reuse is to copy Interfacing : play well with others The canonical example with Text_Io; use Text_Io; procedure example is begin Put_Line (“easier than we thought!”); end; A small package Package Math_Functions is function Sqrt (X : Float) return Float; function Exp (Base : Float; Exponent : Float) return Float; end Math_Functions; Using the package with Math_Functions; with Gnat_IO; use Gnat_IO; procedure Example2 is Val : Float; begin get (Val); put (“Sqrt (“); put (Val); put (“) = “); put (Math_Functions.Sqrt (Val)); new_line; end; Implementing the package Package body Math_Functions is Epsilon : constant := 1.0e-7; function Sqrt (X : Float) return Float is Result : Float := X / 2.0; begin while abs (Result * Result - X ) Epsilon loop Result := 0.5 * (X / Result + Result); end loop;