AdaCore Developers & Knowledge Center

GNAT Pro for Android

2013-06-18T12:17:43+00:00

A GNAT Pro release for Android-based ARM targets is planned for Q3 2013, and a pre-release is available now, supporting applications that are completely in Ada or that combine Ada and Java (for example using Java for the GUI and Ada for the computational logic). Extensive support is currently available in GNATbench 2.7 for this mixed language approach, including automatic Java binding code generation via AJIS, the Ada Java Interfacing Suite.

GNAT Tracker 3.0

2013-06-18T12:09:08+00:00

AdaCore is currently working on a new version of the GNAT Tracker customer server. Based on customer feedback the new version (available later in 2013) will offer an improved and more customizable interface. It will also take advantage of modern design capabilities and support tablets and mobile devices.

SPARK Technology

2013-06-18T12:02:52+00:00

As part of the HI-Lite project, major enhancements have been made to the SPARK language and toolset. The new SPARK 2014 language is both richer and more flexible, and exploits the Ada 2012 contract-based programming features.

Clean artifacts in object and exec directories

2013-06-18T00:00:00+00:00

gprclean now cleans from the object directory the files specified in new attribute Artifacts_In_Object_Dir in package Clean and for main projects cleans from the exec directory the files specified in new attribute Artifacts_In_Exec_Dir in package Clean.

New attribute Standard’Library_Level

2013-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

A new attribute Standard'Library_Level (Standard is the only allowed prefix) is available. This attribute returns a Boolean value which is True if the attribute is evaluated at the library level (e.g. with a package declaration), and false if evaluated elsewhere (e.g. within a subprogram body). In the case of generics, the value indicates the placement of the instantiation, not the template, and indeed the use of this attribute within a generic is the intended common application, where it can be used in conjunction with pragmas Compile_Time_Warning or Compile_Time_Error to deal with the case of a generic that must be instantiated at the library level.

Improve invalid UTF-8 code detection/documentation

2013-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

The validation tests in GNAT.Decode_String/Decode_UTF8_String now detect invalid UTF-8 sequences in which a longer encoding than is necessary is used. In addition the spec now clarifies that the validation does not include the rejection of UTF-8 sequences that are not "well-formed" and correspond to codes in the range 16#D800#-16#DFFF# which are not valid Unicode characters.

Implement Character_Set_Version

2013-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

Ada.Wide_Characters.Handling.Character_Set_Version is now implemnented. This was a late addition to this package. For GNAT it returns "Unicode 6.2".

Initialize_Scalars applies to initialization

2013-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

If an array aggregate has a component clause that uses box initialization, and a corresponding component is not otherwise initialized, then the normal effect of Normalize_Scalars/Initialize_Scalars initialization applies.

Default_Component_Value used for initialization

2013-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

If an array aggregate has a component clause that uses box initialization, e.g. 1..5 => <>, and a Default_Component_Value aspect is specified for the array type, then this value is used for the initialization (rather than the normal default initialization). This is not clearly specified in the Ada RM, but seems clearly the intended effect.

New review classification of CodePeer messages

2013-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

When doing a manual review of a CodePeer message, the user can no longer change the message ranking, but instead specify a review classification and the name of the reviewer. New message review dialog is added and new filter was added for CodePeer Report view to manage visibility of messages by review status.

Improved optimization handling of aliased variables

2013-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

It is possible for programs to use low level techniques to modify variables that otherwise might be considered to be unassigned. For example, a variable can be passed to a procedure by reference, which takes the address of the parameter and uses the address to modify the variable's value, even though it is passed as an IN parameter. Such code is dubious, but with this change it works as expected providing the variable in question is marked as aliased. Basically the compiler now takes aliased as an indication that some funny business may be going on, and avoids possibly troublesome optimizations.

WebSocket passes most Autobahn tests

2013-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

AWS now passes all tests from the Autobahn tests except those requiring UTF-8 validation of the messages.

New pragmas Pre, Pre_Class, Post, Post_Class

2013-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Four new pragmas, Pre, Pre_Class, Post, Post_Class are implemented. These are intended to be usable as direct replacements for the corrresponding Ada 2012 aspects, and share the same restrictions and semantics. The idea is to allow writing a program using these pragmas instead of the aspects, with the intention of possible compilation using an Ada compiler that does not recognize the pragmas (or corresponding aspects), but is prepared to ignore the pragmas.

Recognize components initialized at declaration

2013-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

CodePeer avoids issuing messages about uninitialized components in cases where the components are known to be fully initialized at the point of the component declaration, either by an explicit expression or implicitly due to default initialization.

GNATemulator documentation

2013-06-04T14:05:50+00:00

This page gives access to the main GNATemulator documentation. GNATemulator is an efficient and flexible tool that provides integrated, lightweight target emulation.

Victor wrapper supports solver=none

2013-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

Victor wrapper now supports the switch solver=none which causes Victor to process its input files without invoking any SMT solver. This can be useful for testing purposes.

Additional functions in Ada.Characters.Handling

2013-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

Additional functions are added to Ada.Characters.Handling. These were late additions in Ada 2012 (to match routines in Wide and Wide_Wide cases). The functions added are Is_Line_Terminator, Is_Mark, Is_Punctuation_Connector, Is_Other_Format, and Is_Space).

New warning for redundant if statement

2013-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

A warning (under control of -gnatwr, redundant constructs) is issued for an if statement that has a simple side effect free condition, a then consisting of a single null statement, and no else or elsif parts.

Verification and Validation of Ada and mixed language applications on ARM

2013-06-03T20:32:54+00:00

ARM cpus are now often preferred in safety critical embedded environments where PowerPC was the traditional choice. Such software may now be developed in Ada for high safety criticality sub-systems as well as C/C++ for low level drivers/interfaces. The presentation will show how the completeness of functional testing can be measured by code coverage for software which is mixed Ada and C. Regressionable unit testing on a Cortex-M3 simulator and a live target will then collect coverage that was not achieved in functional testing and verify the functional correctness of Ada code. Finally the presentation will demonstrate how this process can be integrated into a Continuous Integration process.

Gem #149 : Asserting the truth, but (possibly) not the whole truth

2013-06-03T13:00:26+00:00

In Ada 2012, assertions that state desired properties of programs are not limited to pragma Assert. This Gem presents how pragma Assertion_Policy can be used to control which of these assertions should be executed at run time.

Updated names in Wide[_Wide]_Characters.Handling

2013-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

The names of functions Is_Other and Is_Punctuation in the two packages Ada.Wide_Characters.Handling and Ada.Wide_Wide_Characters.Handling have been changed to Is_Other_Format and Is_Punctuation_Connector to reflect the final decision on names for these Ada 2012 packages.

Improved messages for duplicated case choices

2013-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

The messages for duplicated case choices now include the duplicated values. In addition the list of missing values is more accurate in the case of a subtype with a static predicate being used as a choice.

Improved errors for duplicated array indexes

2013-06-01T00:00:00+00:00

The error messages for duplicated and missing index values in array aggregates have been improved, including listing of duplicated values.

Statically predicated subtypes as variant choices

2013-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

The name of a statically predicated subtype can now be used as a variant choice, and works as expected (corresponding to the list of ranges defined by the static predicate).

No runpath for shared libraries with gnatmake -R

2013-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

When gnatmake or gprbuild is invoked with the switch -R, shared libraries are not linked with a Runpath.

ECL: navigation problems are announced

2013-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

When navigation functions, such as hyperlinks and goto-spec/body, encounter problems due to lack of compilation or use of foreign Ada source files, these problems are announced via warning and errors dialog boxes. Users have the option to disable these dialogs with a checkbox on the dialogs themselves, for convenience.

Endianness of Sequential_IO data

2013-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

Ada.Sequential_IO now produces the same data representation, independent of platform endianness, if the Scalar_Storage_Order aspect is specified for the actual type. Note that this is a change in behavior for the case where Ada.Sequential_IO is instantiated with an actual type whose Scalar_Storage_Order is not the system default.

Improved error messages for bad instantiations

2013-05-24T00:00:00+00:00

If the entity being instantiated is incorrect (e.g. a generic procedure when a generic function is required), the error message now includes the name of the incorrect entity.

Safe and Secure Software - An Invitation to Ada 2012

2013-05-23T22:24:06+00:00

The aim of this booklet is to show how the study of Ada in general, and the features introduced by Ada 2005 and Ada 2012 in particular, can help anyone designing safe and secure software regardless of the programming language in which the software is eventually written. After all, successful implementers of safe and secure software write in the spirit of Ada in any language!

Written by John Barnes with contributions by Ben Brosgol

Better error message for illegal aspect specs

2013-05-22T00:00:00+00:00

When a unit containing aspect specifications is compiled with a version of the language earlier than 2012, the compiler reports that the unit should be compiled with the proper version, rather than diagnosing an irrelevant syntax error.