Re: Are there any automatic tools to convert ada83 source into ada95?

[stt@houdini.camb.inmet.com (Tucker Taft)]

changweimin@my-dejanews.com wrote:

: I have a big system written in Ada83, with millons of lines. I intend to
: transit the system to Ada95, Are there any automatic tools to convert ada83
: source into ada95? Any suggestion will be appreciated.

Yes, it is called an Ada 95 compiler ;-).  Seriously, there is no reason
to change your millions of lines of Ada 83 code.  It should compile
as is, or with very minor changes, by any Ada 95 compiler.  

Of course, if there are parts of the existing system which have significant 
maintenance problems, then by all means take advantage of some of the new Ada 
95 language features to improve maintainability.  For example, you might
break a large monolithic package up using child packages, if you find
you keep recompiling the "world" due to changes only of interest to
a small number of users.  Or use tagged type extension rather than variant
records if you have major recompilation problems associated with adding
new variants.  

In general, though, the most important parts of Ada 95 are those parts 
inherited from Ada 83, namely packages and private types.  Presuming
you used them wisely, you already have a very nice Ada 95 program on
your hands.

: Weimin, Chang

--
-Tucker Taft   stt@averstar.com   http://www.averstar.com/~stt/
Technical Director, Distributed IT Solutions  (www.averstar.com/tools)
AverStar (formerly Intermetrics, Inc.)   Burlington, MA  USA