From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: ff6c8,44c0df42a4f542d3,start X-Google-Attributes: gidff6c8,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,44c0df42a4f542d3,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-Thread: f43e6,44c0df42a4f542d3,start X-Google-Attributes: gidf43e6,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,44c0df42a4f542d3,start X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 10db24,44c0df42a4f542d3,start X-Google-Attributes: gid10db24,public From: cseic@ns1.sw-eng.falls-church.va.us (Computer Systems Engineering IC mail list owner) Subject: CFCSEIC News Briefs Week Ending May 22, 1998 Date: 1998/05/27 Message-ID: <6kh3fe$mst@ns1.sw-eng.falls-church.va.us> X-Deja-AN: 356969943 Organization: None Newsgroups: comp.edu,comp.lang.ada,comp.object,comp.software-eng,comp.sw.components Date: 1998-05-27T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: CONTENTS: ASIS TO BECOME ISO DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD ASIS ABLE TO REBUILD ACVC WITHOUT ACCESS TO SOURCE CODE NEW TOOL FOR ADA Y2K REMEDIATION BIG 3 AUTOMAKERS FIGHT 2000 BUG ************************************************************************ ASIS TO BECOME ISO DRAFT INTERNATIONAL STANDARD Topic: Ada The Ada Semantic Interface Specification (ASIS) passed the International Standardization Organization (ISO) Final Committee Draft ballot in March. Upon the resolution of national comments for the Draft International Standard and the successful completion of the Final Draft International Standard ballot, ASIS will become an ISO International Standard. Fourteen nations voted for approval: Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, UK, Ukraine, and USA. The final version for the Draft International Standard should be available by May 22nd. Further information on the ISO standardization of ASIS and an ASIS tutorial are For additional information, please contact Currie Colket, (703) 242-4561 or colket@acm.org. Source: Currie Colket, Chair ASISWG/Chair ASISRG,SIGAda ACM, (703) 242-4561 or colket@acm.org. ************************************************************************ ASIS ABLE TO REBUILD ACVC WITHOUT ACCESS TO SOURCE CODE Topic: Ada In 1992, it was speculated that ASIS could be used to reconstruct the source code of an entire Ada partition by making ASIS queries in the compilation environment. This speculation has become a reality. A paper will be presented in June at Ada-Europe '98 that will describe the development of an extensive testing facility for ASIS implementations. The paper, "Quality-for-ASIS: A Portable Testing Facility for ASIS," describes a method that was used to test the generic procedure Traverse_Element. The Ada Compiler Validation Capability (ACVC) test suite containing all possible Ada 95 syntactic elements was compiled and reconstructed using only ASIS queries. ASIS for GNAT was able to completely rebuild the ACVC without access to the source code. This is considered a very important achievement, and a clear indicator of the maturity of ASIS. The test demonstrates that ASIS implementations can correctly handle every Ada 95 syntactic element. A copy of the paper is available at http://www.acm.org/sigada/WG/asiswg, and the Quality-for-ASIS facility is freely available at ftp://lglftp.epfl.ch/pub/ASIS. The readme file is named readme.Q4A, and the distribution is provided in a file named Q4A.tar.gz. Source: Currie Colket, Chair ASISWG/Chair ASISRG,SIGAda ACM, (703) 242-4561 or colket@acm.org. *********************************************************************** NEW TOOL FOR ADA Y2K REMEDIATION Topic: Ada/Y2k Reasoning, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, CA, has announced the release of Revolution 2000, an advanced toolset for Y2k date remediation available for Ada. Revolution 2000 is intended to deliver high-speed automated remediation, cover the key stages of analysis and correction, and solve the problem of locating and remediating date-sensitive code. The toolset was developed by the Software Revolution, Inc., headquartered in Bellevue, WA, and is based on the Reasoning transformation software architecture, which includes an object store called the Reasoning5 Code-base Management System, Language Gateways, and the Software Developer Kit. Together, these components form the foundation for the development and execution of Transform Plug-Ins, such as Revolution for Ada. For further information about Revolution 2000 for Ada, see http://www.reasoning.com/revada.html. Source: Press Release, Reasoning, Inc., "Reasoning Expands Y2K Remediation Offering to Include C, Fortran, and Ada: Y2k Project Planners Now Better Armed to Meet Millennium Challenge with new Automated Remediation and Inspection Tools", May 12, 1998 http://www.year2000.com/releases/Reasoning_5_12_1998.html. ************************************************************************ BIG 3 AUTOMAKERS FIGHT 2000 BUG Topic: Y2k According to this article, Chrysler Corp. shut down one of its assembly plants last year and turned all the plant's clocks to Dec. 31, 1999. They got a lot of surprises. The security system shut down and would not let anybody in or out of the plant, and their time-clock system failed, which meant no pay for workers. GM, Ford, and thousands of parts supplier have similar horror stories. GM has hundreds, and possibly thousands, of people working on the problem, and has stated that "this problem touches everything and everyone." There is no easy solution. Programmers must debug systems one by one, and GM alone must review more than 2 billion lines of code that operates office computers and up to 500,000 computerized, factory-floor devices that could crash Dec. 31, 1999. Their biggest worry, however, is suppliers. There are more than 40,000 companies with 70,000 factories and offices around the world that supply parts to the Big 3. The auto makers are worried, because they cannot legally "swoop in" and debug software that does not belong to them. To combat glitches that are anticipated from deep within the supply chain, auto makers have set up toll-free phone lines and on-site workshops where suppliers can get Y2k advice. The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) has launched a task force to provide on-line tips, a database, and a self-assessment survey (http://www.aiag.org). They are looking at contingency plans and possible swat teams that could go in and help out suppliers at the last minute, but they're worried that the bug can strike them long before Jan. 1, 2000. According to the AIAG, if a company's planning horizon is 18 months, for example, the company's software could go haywire in July. Source: Rachel Konrad, Knight Ridder, "Big 3 fight 2000 bug in upgrade", May 16, 1998, http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=151698&ID=s390920 ************************************************************************ The DISA CFCSEIC welcomes suggestions for and pointers to software engineering-related articles. Contact the DISA CFCSEIC at: mailto:info@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us To subscribe to the "Center for Computer Systems Engineering News Brief" electronic mailing list, send a message to: mailto:listproc@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us In the body of the message, write: subscribe newslist To unsubscribe, write: unsubscribe newslist No signatures please. 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