Robert Firth

An overview of DARK

Ada is now being mandated for a large number of DoD development projects as the sole programming language to be used for developing software. Many of these projects are trying to build distributed real-time systems. Many project managers and contractors are anxious to support this effort, to reap the advantages of Ada, and to use the newer techniques of software engineering that Ada can support. This transition, however, has not always been smooth; some serious problems have been encountered. This paper discusses several of thes e problems and describes a prototype software artifact, called the Distributed Ada Real-Time Kernel (DARK), built to address these concerns and to support execution of real-time Ada applications in a distributed, embedded environment. This prototype is not intended to solve all the problems of real-time, embedded systems, but it does provide one viable, near-term option demonstrating that Ada can be used in real-time systems today.

A Detailed view of DARK

The main purpose of the Distributed Ada Real-Time Kernel (DARK) Project is to demonstrate that it i s possible to develop application code entirely in Ada that will have acceptable quality and real-tim e performance . This purpose is achieved by providing a prototype artifact — a Kernel — that implement s the necessary functionality required by real-time applications, but in a manner that avoids or mitigates th e efficiency and maturity problems found in current Ada runtime implementations .

Ada and Java (panel session): towards disciplined programming for the next generation software

This panel session will csamine the rclativc merits of Ada and Java towards providing improved practices for disciplined software development. Panelists will present their pcrspcctives on whether these languages will achieve the espccted bcnctits claimed bg their proponents. Since Ada and Java provide similar semantic models. one question becomes whether their combined influence can overcome the less disciplined software development practices promoted by some other programming languages. The panel is fortunate to have leading authorities on both languages prcscnt to share their views on this topic.