Ada -> Flowchart?

Ada -> Flowchart?

[Fredrik Thoernblad]

I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...
One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
by hand. I'm looking for a tool that will do this automatically, i e
in with the code and out comes the flowchart.
Has anyone seen a tool like this? Does it exist?
If you have any clues to where and how to get my hands on a tool like
this, please drop me a note!
Otherwise I might also be interested in finding a lex/yacc ada parser,
that way I might be able to make one myself. I just don't want to build
the parser myself...

Fredrik (fredrik.thornblad@bfs.bofors.se)

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[Robert Dewar]

Fredrick asks

<<I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...
One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
by hand. I'm looking for a tool that will do this automatically, i e
in with the code and out comes the flowchart.
Has anyone seen a tool like this? Does it exist?
If you have any clues to where and how to get my hands on a tool like
this, please drop me a note!
Otherwise I might also be interested in finding a lex/yacc ada parser,
that way I might be able to make one myself. I just don't want to build
the parser myself...
>>

I have not seen any flowcharting tools for Ada (I have not seen a flow
chart for a long time, I thought they had gone the way of ancient
Fortran-2 code -- yes, yes, I know, that means they are undoubtedly
still around :-)

But if you want to build a tool like this, why not use ASIS to build the
tool. THe whole point of ASIS is to allow you to construct tools like
this without having to mess with your own parsers etc.

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[Sune Falck]

In article <199801211148.MAA09958@olaris.misil>, Fredrik Thoernblad <fredrik.thornblad@BFS.BOFORS.SE> wrote:
>I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
>what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...

Have a look att Grasp (Graphical Representations of Algorithms, Structures and 
Processes) from Auburn University.

http://www.eng.auburn.edu/department/cse/research/grasp/

Quote from the help file:

GRASP Project Overview

The GRASP Project has successfully created and prototyped a new 
algorithmic-level graphical representation for Ada software: 
the Control Structure Diagram (CSD). The primary impetus for creation 
of the CSD was to improve the comprehension of source code and, as a 
result, improve software reliabilityand reduce software costs.

GRASP provides the capability to generate CSD's from Ada 95, C, and
Java sourcecode in both a reverse and forward engineering mode with 
a level of flexibility suited for professional application.  

GRASP has been integrated with GNAT (the GNUAda 95 compiler), 
the GNU C compiler and the SunSoft Java Development Kit (JDK).
The system provides a comprehensible graphical-based development 
environment for Ada 95, C and Java.
  
The user may view, edit, print and compile source code as CSD's 
with no discernible addition to storage or computational overhead.



        Sune Falck        

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[Jeff L Burns]

> I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
> what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...
> One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
> flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
> by hand.

Hi Fredrik,

Scientific Toolworks offers a product called "Understand for Ada" that
sounds like it might offer what you're looking for.

http://www.scitools.com

Alternatively, the company I work for offers a tool called Ada-ASSURED which
can be used to improve/standardize the coding style of old source so it's
much easier to read.

http://www.grammatech.com

Hope this helps.

Jeff Burns

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Jeff Burns, Director of Marketing
GrammaTech, Inc.
One Hopkins Place
Ithaca, NY  14850
ph: 607-273-7340
fax: 607-273-8752
e-mail:  jeff@grammatech.com
www:  http://www.grammatech.com
Team Ada
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[James Cross]

Fredrik Thoernblad wrote:

> I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
> what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...
> One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
> flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
> by hand. I'm looking for a tool that will do this automatically, i e
> in with the code and out comes the flowchart.
> Has anyone seen a tool like this? Does it exist?
> If you have any clues to where and how to get my hands on a tool like
> this, please drop me a note!
> Otherwise I might also be interested in finding a lex/yacc ada parser,
> that way I might be able to make one myself. I just don't want to build
> the parser myself...
>
> Fredrik (fredrik.thornblad@bfs.bofors.se)

As an alternative to bulky flowcharts, you might consider Control
Structure
Diagrams (CSDs) which are automatically generated in the GRASP
environment.
Please see http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp for examples and downloading.
GRASP is distributed freely by Auburn University.

James Cross (cross@eng.auburn.edu)

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[John Norcross {83602}]

James Cross <cross@eng.auburn.edu> writes:

>Fredrik Thoernblad wrote:

>> I'm often involved with reading old ada code and trying to figure out
>> what the code actually does. This is always painful and boring...
>> One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
>> flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
>> by hand. I'm looking for a tool that will do this automatically, i e
>> in with the code and out comes the flowchart.
>> Has anyone seen a tool like this? Does it exist?
>> If you have any clues to where and how to get my hands on a tool like
>> this, please drop me a note!
>> Otherwise I might also be interested in finding a lex/yacc ada parser,
>> that way I might be able to make one myself. I just don't want to build
>> the parser myself...
>>
>> Fredrik (fredrik.thornblad@bfs.bofors.se)

>As an alternative to bulky flowcharts, you might consider Control
>Structure
>Diagrams (CSDs) which are automatically generated in the GRASP
>environment.
>Please see http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp for examples and downloading.
>GRASP is distributed freely by Auburn University.

>James Cross (cross@eng.auburn.edu)


Hate to post a "me too", but I've been using Grasp to generate and
print listings used in code reviews for the past few months.  I can
personally vouch for its ability to aid considerably in improving 
the readability and understandability of Ada source.  

It has been so well received by all here that we are now using it to
generate all code review listings.  If you haven't tried Grasp, you
are missing out!  It's available for almost every platform (PC-NT/Win95, 
SUNOS, SOLARIS, IRIX to name a few...)   It's also free!

http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp

Highly recommended!

--John

------------------------------------------------------------------------
|John Norcross | EFOGM Huntsville | 205.772.4795 | jcn@swl.msd.ray.com |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Ada -> Flowchart?

[Philip Johnson]

James Cross wrote:

> Fredrik Thoernblad wrote:
>
> > One way of understanding the logical flow of the code is to make a
> > flowchart of the code. The problem is that so far I've had to do this
> > by hand. I'm looking for a tool that will do this automatically, i e
>
> >>As an alternative to bulky flowcharts, you might consider Control
> >>Structure Diagrams (CSDs) which are automatically generated in the GRASP
> >>environment.

I totally agree with Dr. Cross.  I have been using Auburn's PCGrasp to help
document a system that I am building.  The CSD's provide a very concise view
of the code structure.

Phil Johnson
---------------
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