Sufficient Evidence?

Martyn Thomas – CBE FREng

Time: 35:03 mins

Abstract:

The US National Academies has recently completed a study into the methods for developing and certifying dependable software. Martyn Thomas was one of the editors of the report, and he will provide a briefing on the reasons for the study, the assessment of the current situation, and the recommendations.

« Back to Contents

Porting to Ada 2005

Jeff Cousins, BAE Systems

Time: 21:19 mins

Abstract:

One of the goals of the 1995 and 2005 revisions of the Ada language was to maintain backward compatibility with the previous version. This did not however preclude making changes where it was thought that there would be a worthwhile improvement in the safety and security of the language. Some of the recent changes are classified as retrospectivecorrections to Ada 95 rather than being new changes for Ada 2005, but either way existing Ada 95 code may need to be changed. Never the less, the impact on existing large Applications has been found to be very small.

« Back to Contents

Can Ada be used with Multiple Independent Levels of Security?

Paul Parkinson, Wind River

Time: 19:19 mins

Abstract:

There is an increasing need for multiple levels of secure processes and communications that can operate independently on the same platform and be developed efficiently and effectively. Paul Parkinson explores Ada’s role in the development of these systems while keeping safety a priority.

« Back to Contents

The Marte run-time and the advantages Ada has for real-time programmers

Michael Harbour, Universidad de Cantabria

Time: 30:10 mins

Abstract:

MaRTE OS is a real-time kernel that implements the POSIX minimum real-time system profile and supports applications written in Ada and C/C++. It is mostly written in Ada and provides the underlying support for a GNAT run-time system, enabling the development of real-time applications running on a bare machine. The talk will present the architecture of the MaRTE OS run-time, and the current efforts to implement the new real-time services defined in Ada 2005, together with a discussion on the advantages that these new services offer to real-time programmers.

« Back to Contents

Correctness by Construction: Putting Engineering into Software

Rod Chapman, Praxis High Integrity Systems

Time: 26:42 mins

Abstract:

This presentation will open with a brief reminder Praxis’ “Correctness by Construction” approach to high-integrity software. The main body of the talk, though, will focus on a number of promising signs of progress in software engineering. These include the renaissance of static verification, programming language design, agile methods, and formal approaches to model-driven design. The talk will close with one view of a how a future high-integrity software process might look.

« Back to Contents

The automatic extraction of semantic information using advanced static analysis

Tucker Taft, SofCheck

Time: 31:32 mins

Abstract:

As software continues to become simultaneously more complex and more critical, it is no longer feasible to rely solely on manual methods for certifying the safety and security of the software. One of the most successful ways to validate a system is to translate the requirements for the system into lower-level assertions about what must be true at various points during the execution of the system, and then automate the process of checking the assertions against the actual code. Preconditions and postconditions, the assertions associated with, respectively, the call to and the return from individual functions, are often the most important for automated checking.

Unfortunately, there are existing large systems for which no pre- and postconditions have been provided. For such systems, reversing the process by extracting the pre- and postconditions and other “semantic” information from the system as it exists can provide a starting point for more disciplined enhancement and validation of the system. This talk will describe technology designed to extract “as-built” semantic information from a program or software subsystem, primarily in the form of pre- and postconditionss, as a way to achieve better understanding of a system, as the starting point for further analysis, including automated error detection, automated security risk analysis, and race condition analysis, and to form a well-annotated baseline on which to extend a system to support new capabilities.

« Back to Contents

The DO-178C standardization process and implications for language

Ron Ashpole, Bewicks Consultants

Time: 26:51 mins

Abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the progress that has been made in updating the important software certification guidance document, DO178B/ED12B (SOFTWARE CONSIDERATIONS IN AIRBORNE SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT CERTIFICATION) and looking at possible implications for the ADA language and related development methodologies.

The DO178B document has been used successfully by the avionics industry to certificate avionics software for over 15 years and has gained the respect by industry and the airworthiness authorities as a sound basis for producing high quality software products. It is also used by other industries developing Safety Critical Software.

Since 1992 advances in the technology of software development have led to the decision to update this standard. These changes include greater use of object orientated techniques and integrated modular avionics. The committee is also tasked to take into account the related documents DO-278 and DO-248.

« Back to Contents

Using Ada for software development tools

Guilem Bernat, Rapita Systems

Time: 25:08 mins

Abstract:

Rapita Systems develops RapiTime, a toolset for timing analysis of real-time systems, in particular for performing Worst-Case Execution Time Analysis. RapiTime has been developed using Ada and GNAT technology. The set of tools include C and Ada source code instrumenters, code analysis, report generation and integration of Ada and Java for an eclipse base plugin. This talk will present the experiences in the development of a commercial tool using the Ada language and lessons learned.

« Back to Contents

The future of programming languages

Robert Dewar, AdaCore

Time: 35:40 mins

Abstract:

Robert Dewar, President and CEO of AdaCore and a Professor of Computer Science at the Courant Institute of New York University, takes a look at the history of programming languages over the past 40 years and comes up with some with some fascinating and provocative conclusions.

« Back to Contents