Public Ada Library (with VHDL support) FAQ

[conn@moncol.monmouth.edu (Prof R Conn)]

Archive-name: computer-lang/Ada/pal-vhdl-faq

Date of this FAQ: Tuesday, June 18, 1996
Public Ada Library (PAL) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Posting Frequency: Monthly
Last Update: 17 June 1996

The Public Ada Library (PAL) is a distributed library of Ada and VHDL
software, courseware, and information that contains about 3.0 BILLION
bytes of material (mainly in compressed form).   All items in the PAL
have been released to the public with unlimited distribution and are
freeware in most cases (the exceptions are shareware).  The PAL is
managed by Richard Conn at Monmouth University in New Jersey under
contract to the Ada Joint Program Office, Defense Information Systems
Agency, U.S. Department of Defense.

The PAL FAQ can be found in the PAL in HTML and ASCII text formats. The
files are languages/ada/userdocs/html/PAL_FAQ.html,
languages/ada/userdocs/htm/PAL_FAQ.htm, and languages/ada/0FAQ.  The PAL
FAQ can also be found in ASCII text form on rtfm.mit.edu under
pub/usenet/news.answers/computer-lang/Ada/pal-vhdl-faq.

The PAL FAQ addresses the following topics:

 . Welcome to the Public Ada Library (PAL)
 . What is WUArchive?
 . What Electronic Mailing Lists Support the PAL Users?
 . What Documentation is Available to Help the PAL User?
 . Is the Software in the PAL Free of Defects?
 . What Certification is Done?
 . What are Review Codes?
 . What Are Some Useful World Wide Web Pages?
 . How Do I Handle the Various Types of Files in the PAL?
 . How to Use the PAL from Various Platforms
 . How Can I Submit an Item to the PAL?

=======================================================
Subject: Welcome to the Public Ada Library (PAL)
Welcome to the Public Ada Library (PAL)
Last Update: 15 January 1996

The Public Ada Library (PAL) is a library of Ada and VHDL* software,
courseware, and documentation on the Internet-based host computer named
wuarchive.wustl.edu (WUARCHIVE).  The PAL is located in the directories
languages/ada and languages/vhdl if you access WUARCHIVE by FTP, archie,
gopher, the World Wide Web, or FTPMAIL, or in the directories
/archive/languages/ada and /archive/languages/vhdl if you access
WUARCHIVE by NFS.

* VHDL stands for VHSIC Hardware Description Language, where
  VHSIC stands for Very High Speed Integrated Circuit

The purposes of the PAL are:

 * to help make Ada-oriented and VHDL-oriented software, courseware, and
documentation that has been released for public distribution (as
shareware, freeware, GNU Copyleft, etc) readily available

 * to support Ada and VHDL educators by providing a convenient mechanism
for them to exchange material and ideas

 * to support the Ada and VHDL user community in general by providing a
resource in support of their activities

The PAL reached the following milestones as indicated:

Milestone                                         Date
-----------------------------------------------   -------------
Initial Operational Capability                    June 21, 1993
  Voluntary Basis
  Washington University Provided Resources
    Funded in part by the National Science
    Foundation with Educational Grant from
    Digital Equipment Corporation
  Washington University Office of the Network
    Coordinator Sponsorship
Activity Statistics Gathering Started             September 1, 1993
Gopher Access Enabled                             January 1, 1994
Periodic CDROM Fabrication Process Started        March 1, 1994
Funding Provided by Defense Information Systems   March 28, 1994
  Agency through the Army's Communications-
  Electronics Command Software Engineering
  Directorate
Certification Process Started (Certifier_1)       June 1, 1994
HyperText Transport Protocol Access Enabled       July 1, 1994
PAL Exceeded 1 Billion Bytes in Size              September 30, 1994
PAL Exceeded 1.7 Billion Bytes in Size            October 31, 1995
PAL Exceeded 2.9 Billion Bytes in Size            January 1, 1996

The PAL, which is located in the directory trees languages/ada and
languages/vhdl on WUARCHIVE, is actually ten collections of material in
one:

 * the languages/ada/ajpo tree is a mirror** of the public area of the
sw-eng.falls-church.va.us host computer; this collection is maintained
by the Ada Information Clearinghouse (AdaIC) under the direction of the
Ada Joint Program Office

 * the languages/ada/sei tree is a mirror** of the public area of the
ftp.sei.cmu.edu host computer; this collection is maintained by the
Software Engineering Institute (SEI)

 * the languages/ada/asr tree is the principal copy of the Ada Software
Repository (ASR) on wsmr-simtel20.army.mil; the ASR is no longer
actively maintained; documentation on the languages/ada/asr tree is
found in the languages/ada/asr/mindex directory as the Master Index
document (files are named *.ch, containing chapters of the document) and
in the PAL Catalog and PAL Card Catalog

 * the languages/ada/compiler/adaed/gwu tree is a mirror** of the
pub/ada/gw-adaed area of the ftp.gwu.edu host computer; this collection
is maintained by Dr. Michael Feldman of George Washington University

 * the languages/ada/compiler/ez2load tree is a mirror** of the
pub/ada/ez2load area of the ftp.gwu.edu host computer; this collection
is maintained by Dr. Michael Feldman of George Washington University

 * the languages/ada/compiler/gnat/distrib tree is a mirror** of the
public area of the cs.nyu.edu host computer; this collection is
maintained by the GNU NYU Ada95 Translator (GNAT) project

 * the languages/ada/sage tree is a mirror** of the public area of the
sageftp.inel.gov host computer; this collection is maintained by the
Idaho National Engineering Lab (INEL)

 * the languages/ada/swtools/drgen tree is a mirror** of the
pub/ada/drgen area of the ftp.cs.ua.edu host computer; this colleciton
is maintained by Dr. Allen Parrish and Dr. David Cordes of the
University of Alabama

 * the languages/vhdl tree is a mirror** of the VHDL Repository at the
University of Cincinnati, host ftp.uceng.uc.edu; this collection is
maintained by Dr. Harold Carter of the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the University of Cincinnati

 * the rest of the languages/ada tree is the part of the PAL managed by
the manager of the PAL; documentation is found in the directory
languages/ada/userdocs/catalog, which contains the PAL Catalog, PAL
LOTUS-123 and dBase IV compatible database files, and other forms of
catalog information on the PAL

** A mirror is a copy of a remote system, such as the public area of
   ftp.sei.cmu.edu, in a tree within the PAL.  This copy is
   automatically updated every few days.  Documentation of the
   mirror is scattered throughout the tree itself and in the PAL
   Catalog and PAL Card Catalog.

WUARCHIVE is supported by the Office of Academic Computing and
Networking, Washington University in Saint Louis.  Funding for WUARCHIVE
is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Office of
Academic Computing and Networking.

The support for the PAL is part of a DoD contract, entitled "Defining
and Exploring an Efficient Distributed Process for the Reuse of Ada
Software Components and Tools in a Global Theater" and numbered
DAAB07-94-C-D009.  This contract was awarded to Monmouth University in
West Long Branch, New Jersey, through the Army's Communications
Electronics Command (CECOM) Software Engineering Directorate (SED) with
funding provided by the Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO), Defense
Information Systems Agency (DISA), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Many organizations have developed cooperative relationships with the
PAL, contributing time, effort, user support services, and artifacts to
the PAL and its users either directly or indirectly.  These
organizations include:

 * the Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO)
 * the Ada Information Clearinghouse (AdaIC)
 * the Ada and Software Engineering Education Team (ASEET)
 * the Army Reuse Center (ARC)
 * the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control,
   Communications, and Intelligence (ASD/C3I)
 * the Asset Source for Software Engineering Technology (ASSET)
 * the Comprehensive Approach to Reusable Defense Software (CARDS)
 * Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers (CNAM) in Paris, France
 * the DoD's Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA)
 * the Electronic Library Services and Applications (ELSA, formerly AdaNET)
 * George Washington University (GWU)
 * the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL)
 * the Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
 * the Software Reuse Repository at the University of Maine
 * the Special Interest Group for Ada of the Association for Computing
   Machinery (ACM/SIGAda)
 * Team Ada
 * the University of Alabama (UA)
 * the VHDL Repository at the University of Cincinnati (UC)
 * Walnut Creek CDROM

The PAL can be accessed by a wide variety of mechanisms.  These
mechanisms include, but are not limited to, the following:

 * FTP to WUARCHIVE itself (up to 300 simultaneous FTP users)
 * NFS mounts on WUARCHIVE
 * Gopher servers
 * HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) servers for the World Wide Web
 * FTPMAIL email servers
 * CDROM distributions
 * ASSET distributions and customer support
 * ELSA distributions and customer support
 * AdaIC distributions and customer support
 * Walnut Creek CDROM electronic distributions and customer support

It is highly recommended that users obtain the current PAL Catalog
(named CAT_DOC.ZIP (contains ASCII text files) and CAT_PS.ZIP (contains
Postscript files) in the subdirectory languages/ada/userdocs/catalog) or
the PAL Card Catalog (found in the subdirectory languages/toolkit/all in
the file CARDCAT.ZIP).  The PAL Card Catalog is a program and database
you can install on your local computer if you have a validated Ada
compiler; it contains the same information as the PAL Catalog.  Also
offered is the data in the PAL Card Catalog presented in Hypertext
Markup Language (HTML), suitable for browsing through the World Wide Web
client software (like Mosaic and Netscape).  The HTML version of the PAL
Card Catalog can be found from languages/ada/pal.html.

If you are reading this from the top level of the Walnut Creek Ada CDROM
from an MSDOS or equivalent platform, you may execute the batch file
GO.BAT to run the interactive PAL Card Catalog or the batch file
SHOW.BAT to run an interactive, animated introduction to the PAL. The
files 00_cd.html and 00_cd_a.htm provide a Web-oriented version of the
PAL Card Catalog. Finally, also in languages/ada is the file 0MANIFEST,
which gives a top-level view of the contents of the PAL.

Users wishing to access the PAL by FTP can use anonymous FTP to contact
the main PAL host (wuarchive.wustl.edu) or the PAL mirror sites
(ftp.cnam.fr, ftp.cdrom.com, and sw-eng.falls-church.va.us).  The
languages/ada tree on wuarchive corresponds to the pub/Ada/PAL tree on
ftp.cnam.fr, the pub/ada tree on ftp.cdrom.com, and the PAL/ada tree on
sw-eng.falls-church.va.us.  Two hosts support access to the PAL as
gopher servers: wuarchive.wustl.edu and gopher.wustl.edu.  The host
wuarchive.wustl.edu also supports an HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol)
server for users of the World Wide Web.

See the section of the PAL FAQ entitled "How Can I Get to the Items in
the PAL?" for more details.

General Disclaimer
------------------

All software, courseware, documentation, and other items of information
in the PAL are provided "AS IS" without any expressed or implied
warranties whatsoever unless their individual documentation states
otherwise.  No warranties as to performance, merchantability, or fitness
for a particular purpose exist.

Because of the diversity of conditions under which this software may be
used, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered.  The
user is advised to test the software and courseware thoroughly before
relying on it.  The user must assume the entire risk and liability of
using this software, courseware, and documentation.

In no event shall any person or organization be held responsible for any
direct, indirect, consequential, or inconsequential damages or lost
profits.

=======================================================
Subject: What is WUARCHIVE?
What is WUArchive?
Last Update: 3 November 1995
 
The host computer named wuarchive.wustl.edu (WUARCHIVE) is a Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC) Alpha AXP 3000 Model 400.  It is equipped
with 192M bytes of RAM and over 65G bytes of disk space, and it is able
to support up to 300 simultaneous anonymous FTP sessions, many remote
NFS mounts, a gopher server, and an HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol)
server (with an unlimited number of users) for the World Wide Web.
 
WUARCHIVE is owned by the Office of Academic Computing and Networking,
Washington University in Saint Louis. The Office of Academic Computing
and Networking and the National Science Foundation have jointly paid for
the hardware of the machine and for the services of the support
personnel at Washington University in Saint Louis.  Additional funding
for the hardware has also been provided by the AMINET User's Group, the
Defense Information Systems Agency, and Monmouth University.
 
The maintainers of the archives which originate on WUARCHIVE are mainly
volunteers, working on an unfunded basis.  The support personnel who
maintain the operational support software, including the software which
keeps the mirrors up to date, are funded by the Office of Academic
Computing and Networking and the National Science Foundation grant. The
PAL Manager is funded by DISA.
 
We wish to express our gratitude to Digital Equipment Corporation for
the sale of the DEC Alpha at a substantial discount and to the National
Science Foundation for its grant in support of WUARCHIVE.  We also wish
to express our thanks for funding for extension to the disk drives on
WUARCHIVE to the AMINET User's Group, the Defense Information Systems
Agency, and Monmouth University.  We wish to thank DISA for funding the
management of the PAL.

=======================================================
Subject: What Electronic Mailing Lists Support PAL Users?
What Electronic Mailing Lists Support the PAL Users?
Last Update: 6 February 1996

MAIL.WUSTL.EDU is the electronic mail list server for users of the PAL.
A separate computer from WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU (on which the PAL is
located), MAIL's purpose in life from the point of view of the PAL user
is to manage the electronic mailing lists supporting him.

The List Processor is a program on MAIL which manages Lists (Electronic
Mailing Lists).  The user can send commands to the List Processor, and
it will respond by performing actions for him (such as adding him to a
List, removing him from a List, and sending him a message naming all the
lists supported by the List Processor).  The user can send email
messages to the List, and the subscribers to the List will receive these
messages.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS - SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE, and WHICH
========================================================
If you wish to subscribe to an electronic mailing list, send an
electronic mail message to the List Processor:

  listproc@mail.wustl.edu

Leave the subject line blank and place the following line into the body
of this message:
 
  subscribe <electronic mailing list name> <your name>

Example:
  subscribe pal-announce John J. Smith
 
Begin this line in column 1.  Your return address will be used as the
address to which announcements will be sent.  A list of the electronic
mailing lists for the PAL user community is included below.
 
You will receive a message back from the List Processor, telling you of
the success or failure of your request.
 
Once subscribed, a user can send electronic mail to all subscribers of a
List by sending email to the list's name at mail.wustl.edu; example:

  ada-train@mail.wustl.edu

This, of course, only works if the List is bidirectional.  The ANNOUNCE
Lists are unidirectional (read-only from the point of view of the
subscribers).  Subscribers cannot post email messages to the ANNOUNCE
lists - only the moderator of the ANNOUNCE lists can post messages.

If you wish to unsubscribe from an electronic mailing list, send an
electronic mail message to the List Processor:

  listproc@mail.wustl.edu

Leave the subject line blank and place the following line into the body
of this message:
 
  unsubscribe <electronic mailing list name>

Example:
  unsubscribe pal-announce

If you wish to find out what electronic mailing lists you subscribe to,
send an electronic mail message to:

  listproc@mail.wustl.edu

Leave the subject line blank and place the following line into the body
of this message:
 
  which

HELP
====
The List Processor is a very flexible tool which gives you control over
how you receive messages from the lists to which you subscribe.  For
example, you may receive messages as they are posted or in a digest form
once a day.  A 20-page user's manual for the List Processor is contained
in the PAL in the directory ada/userdocs/listproc.

To find out what commands the List Processor can respond to, send an
email message to:

  listproc@mail.wustl.edu

which contains an empty subject line and one line in the body of the
message (starting in the first column):

  help

EMAIL LIST ARCHIVES
===================
Additionally, as of February 1996, all PAL email lists are archived
automatically by the List Processor.  You can obtain copies of messages
posted to the Lists on and after February 1996 by sending commands to
the List Processor (see the user's manual for details).

A PARTIAL LIST OF ELECTRONIC MAILING LISTS AVAILABLE FROM
  listproc@mail.wustl.edu
=========================================================

These lists are for the PAL user community.  For a more complete list of
the mailing lists available to your site, send a mail message to
listproc@mail.wustl.edu which contains the command "LISTS". 

    Pal-Announce - Announcements concerning the Public Ada Library
      (PAL).  These include additions to, changes to and other
      announcements concerning the PAL.  You can not post messages here.

    Ada-Train - This list is for the discussion of topics concerning Ada
      training and education.  This is a general discussion list.

    ASEET - The ASEET email list supports members of ASEET (The Ada and
      Software Engineering Education Team) and others interested in the
      activities of ASEET.  ASEET materials are available from the
      Public Ada Library (PAL), including an archive of previous messages
      posted to this list.

    Reuse - This list is a bidirectional mailing list for those people
      interested in software reuse technology.  This includes, but is
      not limited to, the fields of designing for reuse, object-oriented
      reuse methods, reuse tools and environments, generic code
      architectures, domain-specific kits, reuse education, technology
      transfer, formal methods, certification of reusable components,
      and management issues as they pertain to reuse.

    Wuarchive-Announce - Notification of any planned downtime or service
      changes for wuarchive.wustl.edu.  The only announcements from this
      list will be from local staff or archivers.
=======================================================
Subject: What Documentation is Available to Help the PAL User?
What Documentation is Available to Help the PAL User?
Last Update: 17 June 1996

PAL Catalog, FAQ, and Database Information
==========================================

The subdirectory userdocs/catalog in the PAL contains a number of
documents of interest to the users of the PAL.  The key user documents
in this subdirectory are:

     CAT_DOC.ZIP and CAT_PS.ZIP - a catalog, complete with table of
       contents and index, of the contents of the PAL in the form
       of a book; CAT_DOC.ZIP contains the chapters as ASCII text,
       CAT_PS.ZIP contains the chapters as Postscript files that
       print 2 pages per physical page in landscape (1/2 the number
       of hardcopy pages required by CAT_DOC.ZIP)

     TAXONOMY.ZIP - a taxonomy of the PAL in ASCII and Postscript

     CSV_DB.ZIP - contains a Comma-Separated-Value (CSV) ASCII
       text file which can be read into database managers like
       dBase IV and spreadsheets like LOTUS 1-2-3 to allow the user
       to scan for items of interest offline; the contents of this
       ZIP file are CSV_DB.DOC and CSV_HDR.DOC, where DB contains the
       data and HDR contains structure information

The subdirectory languages/ada/userdocs/catalog/id_files contains the
Item Description files from which the above files were created.  Item
Description files exist for each item in the PAL.  File names in
id_files which have the same prefix refer to the same item.

The PAL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list:

  languages/ada/userdocs/faqfile/PAL.FAQ -or-
  languages/ada/0FAQ
    the Frequently Asked Questions list

The PAL FAQ in HTML format suitable for browsing via a World Wide Web client
(such as Mosaic or Netscape):

  languages/ada/userdocs/html/PAL_FAQ.html -or-
  languages/ada/userdocs/htm/PAL_FAQ.htm
    the Frequently Asked Questions list in HTML format

Other files in the languages/ada/userdocs/catalog and
languages/ada/userdocs/faqfile subdirectories are used to create these
key files.  Additionally, the user is invited to look in the following
directories for additional useful information:

  userdocs/internet       -- information on using the Internet
  userdocs/internet/email -- archives of the PAL email lists

PAL Card Catalog in Ada
-----------------------
The Public Ada Library Card Catalog is an interactive browser that
presents all the information in the PAL Catalog:
  1. A top-level view of the entire Public Ada Library
  2. Descriptions of all the items in the Public Ada Library, including
     abstracts, locations of files, author information, and release and
     copyright information
  3. An extensive index and taxonomy

The PAL Card Catalog also includes the complete text of the current PAL
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) list and online help.  The file
QSTART.TXT is a short (10 minute) tutorial on how to use the PAL Card
Catalog.

The directory languages/ada/toolkit/all contains CARDCAT.ZIP, a ZIP file
which contains the source code to the PAL Card Catalog along with
instructions for installing it on any system supported by an Ada83
compiler.  A validated Ada83 compiler and CS Parts are required to
perform the installation.  CS Parts can be found under the directory
languages/ada/swcomps/csparts.

The directory languages/ada/toolkit/msdos/cardcat contains ccat_pc.zip,
a ZIP file which contains the files in the runme subdirectory.  The
files in ccat_pc.zip are ready to run under MSDOS.

PAL Card Catalog in HTML
------------------------
The Public Ada Library Card Catalog is also available in HyperText
Markup Language (HTML).  In this form, a user can view the Card Catalog
by using a World Wide Web client, such as Netscape.  The movement and
search capabilities provided by the client can be used to move through
the Card Catalog.

The directory languages/ada contains pal.html and pal_a.htm, the main
World Wide Web home pages for the PAL and convenient entry points for
the PAL Card Catalog.  The file pal.html contains the full, "glossy"
home page, while pal_a.htm contains the same information for users
limited to 8-dot-3 file names.  The directory
languages/ada/userdocs/html/cardcat contains the PAL Card Catalog
itself, and the files 00_Tax.html and 00_Idx.html allow the user to
enter the Card Catalog at the top-level taxonomy or the index. Likewise,
the directory languages/ada/userdocs/htm/cardcat contains 00_Tax.htm and
00_Idx.htm for users limited to 8-dot-3 file names.

Both versions of the PAL Card Catalog are also available on the CDROM
distributions of the PAL, so users may browse the CDROM using either the
Ada version of the Card Catalog or the HTML version.

For users of the CDROM without the Rock Ridge extensions, the PAL Card
Catalog is also available in HTM (as opposed to HTML) files.  Look at
00_cd.html and 00_cd_a.htm at the top-level of the CDROM and the
directory ada/userdocs/htm/cardcat for the same Card Catalog implemented
in htm files as opposed to html files.

=======================================================
Subject: Is the Software in PAL Free of Defects?
Is the Software in the PAL Free of Defects?
Last Update: 21 June 1993
 
The software in the PAL is an outstanding collection from all over the
world, but it comes with a warning: like any such collection, there are
outstanding items, good items, average items, and poor items.  This
software contains items which are really useful, items which you cannot
live without, and items which simply may not work in your environment. 
So you, as a user, must not come into this thinking that everything is
perfect.
 
So how do you know in advance what software is good and what is bad?
Study.  This problem has come up over and over again with the Ada
Software Repository (ASR), and I answered this by adding a REVIEW CODE
field to all the items in the ASR Master Index.  Chapter 1 of the Master
Index gives the keys for this field (e.g., CS means Compiled
Successfully, ES means Executed Successfully, NR means Not Rated (I
don't know if it is good or bad), etc.).  Every item in the Master Index
book has an associated REVIEW CODE field.  Look at this when you
consider using the item.  Also, look for Comment (CMM) files throughout
the ASR.  They tell success/problem stories.  They are text files, so
you can just read them.  Finally, if you find an item marked with a CS
and ES, note the compilers/platforms noted with this mark (e.g., CS(DEC
Ada), etc.). If a number of compilers/platforms are named, you probably
have a very portable item.
 
The PAL has a document called the PAL Catalog (similar in nature to the
Master Index of the ASR).  The PAL Catalog has a similar REVIEW CODE
field, and CMM files are also support in the PAL.  In phase 2 of the
PAL, one or more automated static code analysis tools will be used to
analyze the Ada source code in the PAL and report on it.
 
=======================================================
Subject: What is Certifier_1 and What Certification is Done?
What Certification is Done?
Last Update: 6 June 1994

The second stage in the development of the Public Ada Library (PAL) has
begun with the introduction of the concept of certification to the Ada
source code in the library.  A program, Certifier_1, has been created
that will be initially used to evaluate all Ada source code submitted to
the PAL.  Certifier_1 has the ability to analyze thousands of files in a
single pass, checking on their interdependencies.  It ranks the files it
is asked to analyze as OK or NOT OK and assigns a letter grade to the
system (A, B, or C is OK, D and F are NOT OK).

Certifier_1 contains a lexical analyzer and a parser for the Ada83
language.  A grade of F is assigned to the system if syntax or lexical
errors are encountered.  Certifier_1 also builds an internal data
structure describing the interdependencies of the library units and
subunits. If stubs (subunit bodies) are missing and there are no syntax
or lexical errors, a grade of D is assigned to the system indicating
that major parts of it are missing.  This is not necessarily bad; the
Abstractions library from Intermetrics, for instance, received a letter
grade of D because of missing subunits, but, when the Intermetrics
Standards Checker was evaluated with Abstractions, the Standards Checker
code filled in the missing subunits, giving the combined Standards
Checker and Abstractions system a grade of A.

Certifier_1 also checks on compiler-specific pragmas, the use of machine
code, and the withing of library units that are not a part of the
analyzed code.  It awards lower grades (B and C) if all else is OK and
one of these issues comes up.  A grade of a B or a C may or may not mean
there is a problem.  Compiler-specific library units may be employed,
causing the lower grade, for example.  Also, it may be possible to raise
the grade by including another components library, like CS Parts or New
Abstractions, in the evaluation to fill in the missing library units. 
However, a B or a C may also mean that code has been omitted.

Certifier_1 generates two reports: a report for inclusion in the PAL
database entry on the item and a log file which describes details on the
problems encountered, including line numbers and file names on or near
which the problems can be found.  Log reports can be found for each item
in the PAL by checking in the directory
languages/ada/userdocs/catalog/c1_rpts.  Reports are named after the
items on which they report; ada_sda.c1, for instance, is the report
associated with the Software ID file ada_sda.sid.

Certifier_1 is by no means a final solution to the problem of
certification of reusable software in a library.  However, it is a
start.  It does not beat a compiler by any means, but it does provide a
quick, first-look solution.  It does not determine logical errors or
problems with completeness.  Many things can slip through Certifier_1,
but, likewise, many things do not.  It is a first step.

=======================================================
Subject: What are Review Codes?
What are Review Codes?
Last Update: 6 June 1994

The database maintained on the PAL includes Review Codes which are used
to indicate to some extent the level of trust which may be placed in a
particular item.  These Review Codes are defined as follows:

Code    Meaning
----    -------

AR      AdaNET Report is available (usually in the ZIP file); AdaNET
        Reports contain information on experiences in compiling this
        item

C1      The Certifier_1 tool has analyzed the Ada source code in this
        item; the full format of this entry is "C1 n.n g" where n.n is
        the version number of Certifier_1 and g is the letter grade
        given by Certifier_1 (A, B, and C are satisfactory; D and F are
        not satisfactory)

CMM     Comment Files (*.CMM, *.CM2, etc) are available which describe
        one or more problems with the item

CS      Compiled Successfully (followed by an indication of the
        Ada compiler used in parentheses) by the reviewer

ES      Executed Successfully (followed by an indication of the
        target computer used in parentheses if different from the
        systems mentioned in the CS list) by the reviewer

MF-CODE Missing File - Code; one or more files of source code are
        missing; the item cannot be compiled without these files

MF-DATA Missing File - Data; one or more files used as input data when
        the compiled code runs are missing; the item cannot be
        executed without these files

NR      Not Reviewed

OK      This is a text file which is believed to be an accurate copy
        of the original

RI      Review Incomplete (only some results of a partial review
        are posted)

SDA     Report generated by the Ada System Dependency Analyzer is
        available; if followed by a number from 1 to 5 (e.g., SDA5),
        the number indicates the relative quality of the item, where
        5 is of the highest quality

not     negation prefix (e.g., not ES or not OK)

=======================================================
Subject: What Are Some Useful World Wide Web Home Pages?
What are some Useful World Wide Web Pages?
Last Update: 17 June 1996

Some useful World Wide Web Server home pages:

Public Ada Library (PAL) [Note: pal_a.htm may be substituted for pal.html]
  http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/languages/ada/pal.html
  http://www.cdrom.com/pub/ada/pal.html
  http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/PAL/ada/pal.html
  http://web.cnam.fr/Languages/Ada/PAL/pal.html

Ada and Reuse Information Clearinghouses
  http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/

AdaBasis Library
  http://www.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/ifi/ps/ada-software/
      ada-software.html

Ada Belgium
  http://www.cs.kuleuven.ac.be/~dirk/ada-belgium/

Ada Europe
  http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada-Europe/

Ada Spain
  http://www.ati.es/GENERAL/doc/adasp.html

Ada Sweden
  http://www.docs.uu.se/ais/

Ada United Kingdom (Ada UK)
  http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/Ammo/Associations/ada-uk.html

AdaSAGE
  http://sageftp.inel.gov/sage/HOMEPAGE.HTM

Air Force Software Technology Support Center
  http://stsc.hill.af.mil/

Applied Software Reuse Products Department
  http://sageftp.inel.gov/asrp.htm

Arcadia Research Project
  http://www.ics.uci.edu/Arcadia

Army Reuse Center (ARC)
  http://arc_www.belvoir.army.mil/default.html

Asset Source for Software Engineering Technology (ASSET)
  http://source.asset.com/asset.html

Comprehensive Approach to Reusable Defense Software (CARDS)
  http://dealer.cards.com

Data & Analysis Center for Software (DACS)
  http://www.utica.kaman.com:8001/

Defense Software Repository System (DSRS)
  http://ssed1.ims.disa.mil/srp/dsrspage.html

Electronic Library Services and Applications (ELSA)
  http://www.mountain.net/

GNU NYU Ada95 Translator (GNAT) Project
  http://cs.nyu.edu/cs/projects/gnat/

LGL Components Library
  http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Components/

Magnus Kempe's Ada WWW Server
  http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/

NASA COmputer Software Management and Information Center (COSMIC)
  http://www.cosmic.uga.edu/

Software Engineering Institute (SEI)
  http://www.sei.cmu.edu

Software Engineering Sites
  http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/brant/sre/soft-eng.html

Software Engineering Virtual Library
  http://rbse.jsc.nasa.gov/virt-lib/soft-eng.html

Software Productivity Consortium
  http://software.software.org/

Software Reengineering
  http://www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/users/brant/sre/index.html

Special Interest Group in Ada (SIGAda)
  http://info.acm.org/sigada/

Walnut Creek CDROM
  http://www.cdrom.com/
=======================================================
Subject: How Do I Handle the Various Types of Files in PAL?
How Do I Handle the Various Types of Files in the PAL?
Last Update: 12 November 1994
 
A number of file formats have come into play among the files in the PAL:
  MSDOS and UNIX ASCII text files
  PAGER2 Files 
  ZIP Files
  GNU ZIP Files
  TAR Files
  Compressed (*.Z) Files
  Compressed or GNU ZIPped TAR Files

If you have questions about these file formats, see the file README.TOO
in the top level of the the toolkit directory.  The subdirectories under
the toolkit directory contain programs for various platforms that allow
you to work with these files in various ways.

=======================================================
Subject: Supplementary Info on How to Use the PAL
How to Use the PAL from Various Platforms
Last Update: 17 July 1995

The directory ada/how2use has been created to further support users of
the PAL on both the Internet and the Ada CDROM from Walnut Creek.  This
directory contains instructions for using the PAL from World Wide Web
browsers, on Macintosh and PC platforms, and on other platforms.

=======================================================
Subject: How Can I Submit an Item to the PAL?
How Can I Submit an Item to the PAL?
Last Update: 6 December 1993

Contact Richard Conn at

  conn@wuarchive.wustl.edu

if you wish to submit an item to the PAL.  Several different mechanisms
are in place for making a submission, including direct FTP into the PAL
(which is by far the easiest from my point of view).  I will ask you to
fill out an Item Description (ID) file which describes the item you are
submitting.  Once the item is on WUARCHIVE and I have your filled-out ID
file, I can take it from there.

Detailed submission instructions are in the file submit2.txt in the
directory languages/ada/userdocs/faqfile.

Richard Conn, PAL Manager  |  conn@wuarchive.wustl.edu
Opinions expressed herein are my own and not necessarily those of anyone else.
==============================================================================