Ada is a new programming language developed under contract for the US Department of Defense. It was procured and designed as, initially an alterna tive, and eventually a replacement, for the excessively large number of languages and dialects in use in the US defence industry. Its intended field of application is “embedded computer systems” by which is understood systems where the computer is a component rather than a tool in its own right. Such systems include radars, communications equipment, missile-guidance systems, fire con trol and navigation aids. From 1st January 1984, all new USDoD projects of this kind are required to use Ada as the programming language.

Inspec keywords: embedded systems; programming languages; Ada

Other keywords: programming language; embedded computer system; Ada

Subjects: High level languages