New Ada Windows Technology

New Ada Windows Technology

[Dr. Robert Leif]

From: Robert C. Leif, Ph.D.
Acting Chair San Diego ACM SigAda

To: San Diego ACM SigAda Members and Other Interested Parties

Date: 7 February, 1997

Announcement: 26 February, 1997 (Wednesday) San Diego ACM SigAda Meeting

Speaker : Jim Dorman, President Active Engineering Technologies, Inc.

Subject: Class Libraries for Ada Windows, CLAW, a thick binding to
Microsoft Windows TM

Date: Wednesday, 26 February, 1997

Time: 6:30 PM

Lecture Starts promptly at 7:00 PM

Duration: About 1 hour.

Place: AONIX (Thompson) Software Products, which is located at 10251 Vista
Sorrento Parkway, Suite #300, San Diego, CA  92121-2706.

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Abstract: The following is an abridgement of the RR SOFTWARE web site,
http://www.RRSOFTWARE.com

CLAW FOR MICROSOFT WINDOWS NT/95 gives application developers the ability
to develop Microsoft Windows NT or Windows 95 systems using any ACVC compliant
Ada 95 compiler. It also provides an object-oriented Ada 95 binding to the
Win32 Graphical User Interface (GUI) used in Microsoft's Windows NT and
Windows 95. The front end environment is a GUI builder, with available
construction tools that allow the creation of GUIs by drawing, with code
automatically created from the drawn                GUIs.

Claw's object oriented set of libraries provide the user with the necessary
resources to access the Windows Graphical Interface. Claw allows
programming in Ada 95 in good Ada form without having to use intermediary
commands or do further modifications.
The bindings take care of the entire conversion from Ada 95 to the
Microsoft Windows 95/NT operating system.

CLAW PROVIDES A THICK BINDING. All bindings are not the same. There are two
types of bindings: thin and thick. Thin (or direct) bindings are an
attempted one-for-one
conversion between the source language and the target interface. Claw is a
thick binding for Ada 95. It uses tagged types, inheritance, default
parameters, returns errors as exceptions not error codes, and dynamic
building to ease the construction of code and to keep the size and
maintainability of the binding manageable.

Mixed language programs are almost always harder to maintain. By using
Claw, a programmer does not have to learn any other programming language.

By avoiding the use of both C and C++, the problems of lack of reliability
and poor safety features may be avoided. Unlike those two languages, Ada is
designed to be safe, with the opportunity to bypass the features if the
situation warrants.

The CLAW builder can generate Ada 95 code using the CLAW  binding. The
generated code is object-oriented, and uses good Ada style. The code uses
readable identifiers, as selected by the user, which enhances the
readability and understandability of the
generated code. The generated code can be compiled with any validated Ada
95 compiler.

CLAW takes advantage Ada95 tasking features to provide a tasking safe
environment for Windows programming, where such protection does not usually
exist.

The Claw builder also creates resources in the standard resource language.
These resources couple to the generated Ada code to help avoid errors.

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Speaker Brief Biography:
Jim Dorman is a veteran of the Ada community.  He was Marketing  Manager
for AETECH and is the founder of AdaActive Engineering Technologies, Inc.
AdaActive Engineering mission was to support AETECH and Alsys (Thomson,
Aonix) customer base with products based on AETECH technology.

Current projects include working on the CLAW (Class Libraries for Ada
Windows) with R.R. Software in Madison, WI.  Active Engineering is porting
it's Visual Ada GUI design and source code generator to work with the CLAW
libraries.

Active Engineering's supports a WEB site at "http://www.pcada.com" to target
Ada development on PC's.  Active Engineering currently offers IntegrAda,
IntegrAda for Windows, Visual Ada, LearnAda, AdaData (an Ada binding to
dBASE), AdaGraphics, and many more Ada products.  A complete toolset is also
offered to provide DOS development for ActivAda and Janus/Ada compilers.
Using these libraries and tools you can write "interchangeable" source code
between compilers from three different vendors.  These tools are currently
being ported to Ada95.

Active Engineering's IntegrAda for Windows/NT is the standard Ada compiler
on the U.S. Coast Guard's Eagle procurement.  IntegrAda/386 is the standard
compiler for the U.S. Army's CHS-II contract.  Other Ada compilers featured
on DoD contracts include IntegrAda & XAda on the U.S. Air Force's Desktop
III & IV procurements.

Recent projects include upgrading our compiler interface to include C++ and
Fortran; the addition of a "Job Opportunities" section at our WEB Site; and
plans to put "LearnAda" on the WEB.

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Please RSVP Robert C. Leif,  if you wish to join the preprogram pizza meal
($5.00 per person).

RSVP Tel. & Fax  Robert C. Leif (San Diego ACM SIGAda Vice Chair)
(619) 582-0437 (Voice and FAX), e-mail rleif@rleif.com (Robert C. Leif,
Ph.D.).  Please include the number of individuals desiring pizza, any
special requirements,  your name, telephone number and/or e-mail number when
responding by telephone, Fax, or E-mail. Please Include the Words Pizza or
SigAda in the Subject line of your e-mail.

Directions:

From 805 going North:  Take the Mira Mesa Blvd./Vista Sorrento Parkway
exit.  Stay on the left side of the exit ramp. After the traffic light at
Mira Mesa Blvd., go about 0.5 miles North West.  Thomson is on the right
hand side, 10251 Vista Sorrento Parkway.  You need to look for the Thomson
(AONIX) sign on the right.  It is located after a bend in the road. You
need to be
careful not be going so quickly that you zoom past the driveway into
Thomson (AONIX).
If you exit 805 going North in any of the right (North) lanes,
you will be FORCED to turn right onto Mira Mesa Blvd.

From 805 going South: Take the Mira Mesa Blvd./Sorrento Valley Road exit.
Turn left onto Mira Mesa Blvd.  Take the first left onto Vista Sorrento
Parkway (at the signal just beyond the freeway overpass).
Go about 0.5 miles North West.  Thomson (AONIX) is on the right hand side,
10251
Vista Sorrento Parkway.   You need to look for the Thomson (AONIX) sign on the
right.  It is located after a bend in the road. You need to be careful not
be going so quickly that you zoom past the driveway into Thomson.
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PLEASE NOTE New E-Mail Address: rleif@rleif.com

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Robert C. Leif, Ph.D., PMIAC,
Vice President & Research Director
Ada_Med, A Division of Newport Instruments
Tel. & Fax (619) 582-0437
Please send e-mail to my new address, rleif@rleif.com
Thank you.