HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: carlsons@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Susan Carlson)
Subject: Call for Papers/Posters/Speakers
Organization: Software Engineering Institute
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 08:17:56 EST

                      CALL FOR POSTER PAPERS AND SPEAKERS

                                  TFWGCON 93

                                21-24 June 1993

         Tropicana Hotel & Tropicana Conference and Exhibit Complex  
                               Las Vegas, Nevada



"The Avionics and Mission-Critical System Test Facility
Support Technology Forum Between Industry, Academia and
Government Engineers"


Primary objective of TFWGCON 93 is to provide a forum between
industry, academia and government representatives to exchange
information, and to exhibit technologies along the Sub Working Group
(SWG) technical themes of: Instrumentation (data collection)
systems; Threat generators/simulators; Data analysis systems;
Embedded software (tools and environments); Facility design and
documentation; and Testing methods and processes. Conference will
include tutorials, presentations, papers,panels, exhibits and
demonstrations by government and industry participants.


Normal Test Facility Working Group (TFWG) and SWG meetings are
government only, and held semi-annually at DOD avionics test
facilities.  However, this "biennial" TFWGCON is open (unclassified/
limited) to the avionics and mission-critical system test community
of the US and Canada at large. 


                        POSTER  PAPERS
      
Unclassified and non-proprietary papers, 10 pages or less (typed,
single-sided, 12-pt, single spaced) will be considered for
acceptance in the following categories:

Instrumentation (data collection) systems
Threat generators/simulators
Data analysis systems
Embedded software (tools and environments) 
Facility design and documentation 
Testing methods and processes. 

Accepted papers will be published as part of the Meeting Record. 
Published papers will not be available for public release.  Authors
will be given a block of time during TFWGCON to represent and defend
their paper at review booths. Awards will be presented for the best
papers.  Please submit single page abstracts and short biographical
sketch by 3 FEB 93 to the following address: 

TFWGCON 93 Papers Committee
Wright Laboratory/AAAF-2
Wright Patterson AFB  OH  45433-6543


                             SPEAKERS

Speakers are invited to provide presentations on TFWGCON technical
themes at the SWG or general assembly levels. Presentations should
be no more than 30 minutes, plus a 5-10 minute question and answer
period.  

Please submit an abstract and short biographical sketch to the
"TFWGCON 93 Presentation Committee" (specify SWG theme) by 3 FEB 93
at the above address.

                           Sponsored by:

The United States Air Force Wright Laboratory Avionics Directorate
                               and 
The Embedded Computer Resources Support Improvement Program (ESIP)
                             WL/AAAF-2
                Voice:  513/255-2446; DSN:785-2446
                 FAX:  513/476-4277; DSN: 986-4277
            e-mail: tfwgcon%avlab.dnet@aa.wpafb.af.mil

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: tne@world.std.com (Thomas N Erickson)
Subject: Re: Ada RTE/F.A.A.-certified?
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 05:09:26 GMT

dtl8v@holmes.acc.Virginia.EDU (Heracleitus) writes:


>  I recently came across a reference in the AIAA/IEEE 8th Digital
>Avionics Systems Conference to an Ada RTE bassed on a U.S.
>F.A.A.-certified executive in one or more commercial Ada compiler
>systems.  I was hoping someone out there would be able to give me a
>lead on this, as the article in the proceedings did not provide
>specific detail, and there may be more than the author mentioned.

>Doug Lamb
>University of Virginia
>dtl8v@Virginia.EDU

We at Alsys have a certifiable run time called C-SMART which is being used
on the Boeng 777 program and in several European programs.  The RTE is
available for 68K and Intel x86 targets.

Please contact George Romanski (romanski@world.std.com) or Scott Dorman
(617)270-0030 for more information.


-- 
Tom Erickson
Alsys
tne@world.std.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: dennisk@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu (Dennis M. Kavanagh)
Subject: X-Windows Bindings?
Organization: Johns Hopkins Continuing Professional Programs
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 18:46:51 GMT


Is there any info about the current state of the X Bindings?
Is this a faq?
The only aspect holding my project back from switching to Ada
from 'C' is the binding...Hope there is a solution...
Thanks ...
From: courtel@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr (Nicolas Courtel)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Announcing PARADISE version 3.0
Date: 22 Dec 92 13:42:06 GMT
Organization: Centre d'Etudes de la Navigation Aerienne, Toulouse, France


Paradise is a set of Ada packages intended to provide an interface to the Unix
operating system, and more specifically to the communication routines, that
are accessed via file descriptors. It lets the Ada programmer use files, pipes,
and sockets, as well as signals, error codes, environment variables, etc...,
using an interface that looks as much as possible like the C interface.

Paradise supports multi-tasking: any input or output is blocking for the
calling task only, and not for the entire process.

Paradise is intended to be system-independant and compiler-independant; so far,
it works on two environments:
- SunOS (Sparc) and Verdix compiler
- HP-UX (HP9000/700) and Alsys compiler

This version of Paradise is very different from the previous versions:
- it is not compatible
- it has not been ported on the same environments
- it does not work the same way
However, it does offer about the same functionalities, and a porting manual
is provided in the documentation.

For people who would like to port it to other environments, informations on
portability are displayed inside the code. A programmer's guide should appear
in future versions.

The source code is available on ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr, in directory
pub/export:
-rw-r--r--  1 50       32         241167 Dec 22 13:10 paradise-3.0.tar.Z

Send all comments, bug reports, patches to "paradise@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr".
(I won't read them before next year, though :-)
--
Nicolas Courtel - courtel@dgac.fr

>>>        The goal of science is to build better mousetraps.         <<<
>>>            The goal of nature is to build better mice.            <<<
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: bill@leeweyr.sccsi.com (Bill Lee)
Subject: Using Shared memory from Ada code.
Organization: Lee Aerie
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 04:01:44 GMT


I have a couple of questions needing serious answers.

First question:

At work, we are developing a rather large, near-realtime application
in Ada.  The application will consist of several processes (POSIX
environment eventually, UNIX for the time being) with shared memory
to be attached among all of the processes.

I have read an early version of Ted Baker's report which served as
the basis for the 1003.20 efforts. In that paper, Ted has the
following comments concerning shared memory:

"...There is uncertainty about whether the compiler will generate code that
 reads and writes data through to memory. In the absence of pragmas specifying
 otherwise, ... there is no guarantee that a reference or assignment to a 
 shared memory object in the Ada source code will result in a compiler 
 generating actual read or write operations to memory......"

O.k, the question: How do I use shared memory in my Ada programs
so that the above concerns are mitigated? How do I make SURE that
every reference to a shared memory object actually uses the shared
memory?



Second question:

In the 1003.20 Ada binding we get functions which return System.Address
values.  I want to put an Ada object at the address so that all
future references to the object are actually referencing the shared
memory. How?

I would like something like the following to work (perhaps it will, the 
DEC Ada compiler swallowed it!):

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
with System;
procedure Test is

  type Structures is
    record
      Name: string(1..20);
      Status : boolean := false;
    end record;
  type Structure_Lists is array (integer range <> ) of Structures;

  Shared_Mem_Address : System.address;
  List_Length : constant integer := 100;
  The_List : Structure_Lists(1..List_Length);


  function Attach ( An_Address : in System.address;
                    Length     : in integer ) return Structure_Lists is
    A_List : Structure_Lists ( 1..Length);
    for A_List use at An_Address;
  begin
    return A_List;
  end Attach;

begin
  		.
		.
	-- Somehow get a shared memory address into Shared_Mem_Address
  The_List := Attach ( Shared_Mem_Address, List_Length );
		.
		.
  The_List(Index).Status := true;
		.
		.
	-- and so forth
end Test;
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
The question can be simply put: how do I put an Ada object at an address
in shared memory?


Regards,

Bill Lee
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: cwarack@kirkusafa.af.mil (Chris Warack <sys mgr>)
Subject: Re: Novice Question on Record Representation
Organization: USAF Academy, CO
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 00:22:21 GMT

Why do you say, "of course" there is an error in this?  You should be able
to layout a private type just as easily as any other -- of course, you need
knowledge of that private type which you otherwise might not need; but, you're
using a rep clause so you must need it.

However, you may be getting an error if your machine's storage unit is a byte
(like most machines).  In this case, you are laying out field A to take bytes
0 and 1; field B takes bytes 2 and 3; field C starts with byte 1 again, thus
takes bytes 1,2,3, and 4.  Bytes 1,2,3 are already allocated, however. 
That is an error.  If your storage unit is a long word (32 bits), this should
work...

-- Chris

In article <1992Dec16.225712.23791@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com>, lam@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com (Josh Lam) writes:
|> There is a type in another package I need to use in a record in my package.
|> Unfortunately, that type is private and I need to use record representation
|> for my record.
|> 
|> package Some_Package is
|> 
|>  type Some_Int is new integer;
|>  for Some_Int'size use 16;
|> 
|>  type Some_Type is private
|> 
|>  -- etc etc
|> 
|>  private
|> 
|>   type Some_Type is new integer;
|>   for Some_Type'size use 32;
|> 
|> end Some_Package;
|> 
|> 
|> with Some_Package;
|> package My_Package is
|> 
|>  type My_Rec (Choice: Boolean := True) is record
|>    case Choice is
|>      when True =>
|>        A : Some_Package.Some_Int;
|>        B : Some_Package.Some_Int;
|>        C : Some_Package.Some_Type;
|>      when False =>
|>        D : Some_Package.Some_Int;
|>    end case;
|>  end record;
|>    
|>  for My_Rec use record
|>     A      at 0 range 0..15;
|>     B      at 0 range 16..31;
|>     C      at 1 range 0..31;     -- of course there is an error here!
|>     Choice at 2 range 0..31;
|>     D      at 0 range 0..15;
|>  end record;
|> 
|> -- etc etc
|> 
|> end My_Package;
|> 
|> 
|> I know that I cannot do the above cos C is of Some_Package.Some_Type which
|> is a private type.
|> 
|> So, other than yelling at the person and getting him to change his type
|> to public, what are my alternatives given that I need to use record
|> representation. Please also let me know some pros and cons (if any) to any
|> alternative.
|> 
|> Thanks in advance!
|> 
|> -- 
|> Josh Lam
|> Honeywell Inc
|> lam@saifr00.cfsat.honeywell.com
|> 
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: smithd@software.org (Doug Smith)
Subject: Re: I/O and the LRM
Keywords: I/O NAME OPEN
Organization: Software Productivity Consortium, Herndon, Virginia
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 16:34:35 GMT

In article <206@hathor.CSS.GOV> jeffe@hathor.CSS.GOV (Jeff Etrick) writes:
> 
> 
>  The following is taken from the LRM:
> 
> >>function NAME(FILE : in FILE_TYPE) return STRING;
> 
> >>Returns a string which uniquely identifies the external file currently
> >>associated with the given file (and may thus be used in an OPEN
> >>operation).  If an environment allows alternative specifications of the
> >>name (for example, abbreviations), the string returned by the function
> >>should correspond to a full specification of the name.
> 
> >>The exception STATUS_ERROR is raised if the given file is not open.
> 
> 
>  I have used the function successfully many times to get the external
> name of a currently opened file but what I don't understand is the
> comment about it being used in an open statement. Why would I want to use
> this statement in an open since the file must already be opened or
> STATUS_ERROR will be raised.
> 
> Thanks for the help,
> 
> Jeff

It will take a while to answer your question...

In one application, I found that a temporary file would be useful.
When I discovered that Ada allowed you to create temporary files,
I quickly used this new-found expertise:

    Create (Temp, Out_File);

Of course, my next lesson was quite disheartening:

    -- Much information written to file.
    ...
       Temp_Name : constant String := Name (Temp);
    begin
       Close (Temp); -- Temp is deleted from system!
       Send_Name_To_Sub_Process (Temp_Name);

Yes, as soon as the temporary file is closed, it
was deleted--and not by the system.  I could not use
temporary files to pass data to a subprocess.
(Will this behavior still be allowed in Ada9X?)
AI-00046/06-ra-WJ states:
    1)  An implementation is allowed to delete a temporary file
        immediately after closing it.

Yet, the feature that was so beneficial was that a system
dependent name was available!  So now:

      Create (Temp, Out_File)
      declare
         Temp_Name : constant String := Name (Temp);
      begin
         Close (Temp); -- Temp is deleted from system!
         ...
         Create (Temp, Out_File, Get_Temp_Name);

         -- Much information written to file.

         Close (Temp); -- Temp not deleted!
         Send_Name_To_Sub_Process (Temp_Name);

THEN, THE OTHER PROCESS CAN PERFORM AN OPEN USING THE
STRING FROM A NAME FUNCTION.  Yes, this is convoluted
and not necessarily applicable to a single Ada program
which could be redesigned to use the RESET feature--
but you asked for it!

However, this is still a system dependent feature, because
the same AI states:

    2)  The NAME function is allowed to raise USE_ERROR if
        its argument is associated with an external file
        that has no name, in particular, a temporary file.

Oh, well.

Doug Smith
smithd@software.org
From: jdalbey@zeus.calpoly.edu (John Dalbey)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Wanted:Augusta Ada interpreter documentation
Date: 28 Dec 92 23:04:14 GMT
Organization: California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

I recently obtained the public domain Augusta Ada interpreter
for IBM PC's.  Unfortunately it did not come with any documentation.
Does anyone know where I can get a description of the Augusta
Ada language?  (It's not true Ada.)  E-mail replies appreciated.


jdalbey@calpoly.edu

Dr. John Dalbey
Computer Science Department
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: paulsen@mako.viewlogic.com (Bill Paulsen)
Subject: Conformance rules for subprogram specifications
Originator: paulsen@mako
Organization: Viewlogic Systems, Inc., Marlboro, MA
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 21:58:39 GMT


VHDL (which is the VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is currently
undergoing revision, and one issue is whether to continue using
lexical based conformance rules.

(Conformance rules are used to decide when two subprogram specifications
(ie, headers) are the same, for the purpose of identifying the subprogram
body.)


I'd like some comments or a reference to a paper on the rationale for
Ada to use lexical rather than other approaches.


There are three proposals:

1. Leave it as is, that is, lexical rules, which simply require the
exact same sequence of lexical elements and their same visibility rule
meanings.  (Comments can be removed.)

2. A recursive definition of conformance that requires a semantic
interpretation of the subprogram specifications.  Among other things,
these are used to determine conformance: locally static expression
evaluations, subexpressions must conform, range and index constraints
conform if their bounds conform, etc.

3. The rules of overload resolution are applied to determine conformance.

Thanks,
Bill Paulsen
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: tne@world.std.com (Thomas N Erickson)
Subject: Re: X-Windows Bindings?
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1993 06:01:44 GMT

dennisk@aplcenmp.apl.jhu.edu (Dennis M. Kavanagh) writes:


>Is there any info about the current state of the X Bindings?
>Is this a faq?
>The only aspect holding my project back from switching to Ada
>from 'C' is the binding...Hope there is a solution...
>Thanks ...

There are several commercially available bindings to X and Motif for Ada.

At Alsys, we offer:

AdaMotif	A binding to the 'C' X and Motif libraries
AdaXlib		An Ada implementation of the X libraries


For further information about these offerings, contact:

Scott Dorman (617)270-0030



-- 
Tom Erickson
Alsys
tne@world.std.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lan.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.misc,comp.software-eng
From: moe@nuchat.sccsi.com (Norman C. Kluksdahl)
Subject: CASE tools
Organization: South Coast Computing Services, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 21:23:15 GMT

At work, we are working on a large software engineering project, and
are using a proper OOD methodology.  Our major difficulty is that we
don't have a good suite of CASE tools.  We are currently doing all of our
design in TEAMwork, and documenting the stuff in Interleaf.

I would appreciate it if anyone with experience with CASE tools for design
and implementation would e-mail me your opinions of the various tools
which are available.

Thanks in advance.

=====================================================================
Norman Kluksdahl  
  moe@nuchat.sccsi.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: srogers@teenwolf.mcc.com (Steve Rogers)
Subject: Re: C++ vs. Ada -- Is Ada loosing?
Organization: MCC, Austin, Texas
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 16:11:05 GMT

In article <EACHUS.92Dec18164915@oddjob.mitre.org> eachus@oddjob.mitre.org (Robert I. Eachus) writes:
>In article <1992Dec18.141448.13862@mcc.com> srogers@teenwolf.mcc.com (Steve Rogers) writes:
>
>   I'm not sure this is true; the Barnes Ada book has LOTS of examples that
>   violate the LRM...
>
>   Which edition?  The first edition was published before the ANSI (83)
>standard was finalized.  However, it wasn't really Ada 80, more like
>81 1/2.
>

The edition I am looking at is the 3rd edition.  Two examples:  The
FRAME program on page 325 violates LRM 9.1.4 - the type of the task
cannot be used as a typemark within the task itself.  It's easy to
see what the program means, but it doesn't comple.  There is a task
example on page 311 that has nested accepts for the same entry which
violates LRM 9.5(8).  Again, its clear what the program intends, but
it has been simplified in a way that keeps it from compiling.  These
are the latest ones I have noticed.  It seems to me that it would be
better to include such details in examples (certainly after several
hundered pages) so that the student/reader learns to see Ada and
the LRM as a consistent whole, rather than a lot of nit-picky
rules that get in the way.

I'm assuming that these things have been left in on purpose and
reflect a particular approach to teaching rather than simple
oversight. This simplification is consistent with the practice
I have seen in my CS education (addressed in my previous post)
and it is the 3rd edition, after all.  It is not my intent
to critisize this book - I bought the first edition and I'll
probably buy the 4th edition.  I'm addressing a particular
method of teaching CS.  The piecemeal approach is not as good
as a wholistic approach. I think students need to learn to
see the language as a consistent wholistic system, rather than
a hodge-podge box of semantic tools.  I think it is easier to
see this aspect of programming languages in Ada than most
others.  This is why I think it makes a good first language,
despite its complexity (just leave off tasks at first).

-- 
| Steven Rogers  MCC/ESL  3500 West Balcones Drive
| Austin, Texas 78759-6509  (512) 338-3691 srogers@mcc.com
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
From: BERRYMAN@orca.drep.dnd.ca (DON BERRYMAN)
Subject: Re: Announcing PARADISE version 3.0
Organization: Defence Research Establishment Pacific
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 18:55:24 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.20

In <1992Dec22.134206.5394@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr> courtel@cenatls.cena.dgac.fr writes:

> The source code is available on ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr, in directory
> pub/export:
> -rw-r--r--  1 50       32         241167 Dec 22 13:10 paradise-3.0.tar.Z

I tried to FTP from ftp.cenatls.cena.dgac.fr and cenatls.cena.dgac.fr and
could not connect. Does anyone know the numeric TCPIP address???

Don Berryman
Defence Research Establishment Pacific
Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt
Victoria, BC, CANADA, V0S-1B0
604-363-2731    604-363-2856fax
berryman@orca.drep.dnd.ca
From: matthias@nimbus.larc.nasa.gov (Larry Matthias)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: VALUE and IMAGE operations for FLOAT
Date: 23 Dec 1992 11:40:21 GMT
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA  USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: nimbus.larc.nasa.gov
Keywords: Type Conversion VALUE IMAGE FLOAT

	I am interested in finding a software reuseable package that
performs the equivalent VALUE and IMAGE operations but for the FLOAT
type. I saw that Grady Booch has a package in his "Software Components
with Ada" that supports this in the package Floating_Point_Utilities.
However, only the package specification is included in the book. You
must send away for the implementation.

	Where can you get these package? How much are they (remember
the deficit)? Are there other packages available. I am currently
getting setup on AdaNet so I will be looking there shortly. What
ever happened to the SIMTEL20 Ada site?

	I know this is alot of questions but I would appreciate
your responses.

	Please respose by email since I rarely look at this group.
Oh and by the way the phone works too (ain't technology great).	

------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Larry Matthias						--
-- Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company			--
-- 144 Research Drive						--
-- Hampton, VA 23666						--
-- (804) 766-9726						--
--								--
-- email: l.e.matthias@larc.nasa.gov				--
-- fax:   (804) 766-9601					--
------------------------------------------------------------------
-- My views are my own. There are no puppet strings.		-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Insert very funny remarks here.				--
------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Insert famous obscure quotation here.			--
------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Enum's start at 0?
From: tim@trident.datasys.swri.edu (Timothy J. Barton)
Date: 29 Dec 92 14:36:42 GMT
Organization: Southwest Research Institute

Just curious, but is there a reason enumerated type's POS values
start at 0 instead of 1?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy J. Barton                         tim@trident.datasys.swri.edu
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
San Antonio, Texas
From: hoaglund@TECNET1.JCTE.JCS.MIL
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Digest-ive upsets?
Date: 28 Dec 92 00:25:52 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet

Who is in charge of the way these postings are assembled into the
digest format?  The constant repetition is getting very annoying to
those of us who read the INFO-Ada digest.  For example, postings 
from 12 Dec appear in 9 of the recent digests, and from 3 Dec in no
less than 20!  If there is anything more boring than a flame war, its
the same flames repeated 10 times - complete with the same typos!

Grump, grump, grump.

Cathy Hoaglund, complaining only for myself
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada