Welcome to Ada 83 Memory: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:13, 18 May 2025

Motivations

This site aims to preserve heritage elements of the original Ada® language (now called Ada 83).

Ada 83 is a computer programming language set in its standard in 1983, and for which a fairly formidable design effort was deployed over nearly a decade, following which the language in its original form was used in large-scale projects over the following decade. Then revisions of the language were made which certainly increased its possibilities, but at the heavy cost of rather considerable complications on an originally quite sophisticated base which proved sufficient for many applications.

At the time of its availability, Ada 83 was considered a “big” language, the compilation of which put contemporary machines to the test. On current systems in these 2020s, the compilation of Ada 83 has become easy.

The extraordinary qualities of this language are, despite its age, still of particular interest from the point of view of software engineering. Since the operating principles of digital machines have not changed so much, the Ada 83 language is still perfectly usable and capable of providing services. Despite Ada 83's seemingly old age it is predated by other languages like C^[1] and ^[2] Pascal that are still in use today.

At the very least, it is essential to preserve Ada 83, its resources, its conceptual atmosphere, these works of human genius in the field of digital information processing.

This site is thus a place dedicated to the ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A-1983 version of the Ada computer programming language ; version known today as Ada 83 to distinguish it from later versions (Ada 95, Ada 2005, Ada 2012, Ada 2022).

The specification of Ada 83 (the Ada Language Reference Manual) is close to 170 paper sheets long (around 270 pages of language definition proper), which makes it integrally accessible to an individual reader.

The Ada language still exists but evolved so much that we wanted to preserve elements of the original version of the language. Ada 83 is a peculiar programming universe that really deserves preservation, both for computer history purpose and as an example of a specially well designed tool for software reliability, readability, maintenance. We believe that Ada 83 is still useful forty years later.

Purpose

This site aims at gathering :

history facts
tools
documentation
examples written in Ada 83.

The interest is also about Ada 83 language machines like the Rational R1000 and the iAPX 432.

Participate

Feel free to participate to the elaboration of Ada 83 Memory whether you are a veteran of the 1980ies or a programming history enthusiast. Nonetheless be aware that only Ada 83 is of interest here, no Ada 95 or later version will be considered (or only marginally if it serves an analytical purpose).

You can request your account here

Notes

↑ [1] C programming language
↑ [2] Pascal programming language

[1] [1] C programming language

[2] [2] Pascal programming language

[1]

[2]

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+[[File:Ada 83 Memory.png|center|alt=Ada 83 Memory|420px]]
+<hr/>
 [[File:Ada Lovelace portrait.png|thumb|---  Ada Lovelace by A.E.Chalon (1840)  ---]]
-<strong>MediaWiki has been installed.</strong>
-Consult the [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Contents User's Guide] for information on using the wiki software.
+==Motivations==
+This site aims to preserve heritage elements of the original Ada® language (now called '''Ada 83''').
+'''Ada 83''' is a computer programming language set in its standard in 1983, and for which a fairly formidable design effort was deployed over nearly a decade, following which the language in its original form was used in large-scale projects over the following decade. Then revisions of the language were made which certainly increased its possibilities, but at the heavy cost of rather considerable complications on an originally quite sophisticated base which proved sufficient for many applications.
-==Welcome to the '''Ada 83 Memory''' site !==
+At the time of its availability, '''Ada 83''' was considered a “big” language, the compilation of which put contemporary machines to the test. On current systems in these 2020s, the compilation of '''Ada 83''' has become easy.
-This site aims to preserve heritage elements of the original Ada language (now called '''Ada 83''') excluding later versions Ada 95 and Ada 2X.
+The extraordinary qualities of this language are, despite its age, still of particular interest from the point of view of software engineering. Since the operating principles of digital machines have not changed so much, the '''Ada 83''' language is still perfectly usable
+and capable of providing services. Despite Ada 83's seemingly old age it is predated by other languages like C<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)] C programming language</ref> and <ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_(programming_language)] Pascal programming language</ref> Pascal that are still in use today.
-'''Ada 83''' is a computer programming language set in its standard in 1983, and for which a fairly formidable design effort was deployed over nearly
+At the very least, it is essential to preserve '''Ada 83''', its resources, its conceptual atmosphere, these works of human genius in the field of digital
-a decade, following which the language in its original form was used in large-scale projects over the following decade before revisions certainly
+information processing.
-increased its possibilities, but at the cost of quite considerable complications on an originally quite sophisticated base.
-At the time of its availability, '''Ada 83''' was considered a “big” language, the compilation of which put contemporary machines to the test. On current
+This site is thus a place dedicated to the [[Documentation|ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A-1983]] version of the Ada computer programming language ; version known today as '''Ada 83''' to distinguish it from later versions (Ada 95, Ada 2005, Ada 2012, Ada 2022).
-systems in these 2020s, the compilation of '''Ada 83''' has become easy.
-The extraordinary qualities of this language are, despite its forty-one-year-old age in 2024, still of particular interest from the point of view of
+The [[documentation|specification]] of '''Ada 83''' (the Ada Language Reference Manual) is close to 170 paper sheets long (around 270 pages of language definition proper), which makes it integrally accessible to an individual reader.
-software engineering. Since the operating principles of digital machines have not changed so much, the '''Ada 83''' language is still perfectly usable
-and capable of providing services. Pascal, which predates it, is still used (albeit with object extensions), and the C language, whose contribution to
-software engineering cannot be considered positively transcendent, is also.
-At the very least, it is essential to preserve '''Ada 83''', its resources, its conceptual atmosphere, these works of human genius in the field of digital
+The Ada language still exists but evolved so much that we wanted to preserve elements of the original version of the language. '''Ada 83''' is a peculiar programming universe that really deserves preservation, both for computer history purpose and as an example of a specially well designed tool for software reliability, readability, maintenance. We believe that '''Ada 83''' is still useful forty years later.
-information processing.
+==Purpose==
+This site aims at gathering :
-This site is thus a place dedicated to the ANSI/MIL-STD-1815A-1983 version of the Ada computer programming language ; version known today as '''Ada 83''' to distinguish it from later versions (Ada 95, Ada 2005, Ada 2012).
+*  '''[[Ada_83_history|history]]''' facts
+*  '''[[Ada_83_tools|tools]]'''
+*  '''[[documentation]]'''
+*  '''[[Ada_83_examples|examples]]''' written in '''Ada 83'''.
-The specification of '''Ada 83''' (the Ada Language Reference Manual) is around 175 pages long, which makes it accessible to an individual.
+The interest is also about '''Ada 83''' language machines like the [[Rational_R1000_Ada83_machine|Rational R1000]] and the [[iAPX_432_Ada83_machine|iAPX 432]].
-The Ada language still exists but evolved so much that we wanted to preserve elements of the original version of the language. '''Ada 83''' is a peculiar programming universe that really deserves preservation, both for computer history purpose and as an example of a specially well designed tool for software reliability, readability, maintenance. We believe that '''Ada 83''' is still useful forty years later.
+==Participate==
-This site aims at gathering [[Ada_83_history|history]] facts and [[Ada_83_tools|tools]] or [[Ada_83_examples|examples]] written in '''Ada 83'''.
+Feel free to participate to the elaboration of Ada 83 Memory whether you are a veteran of the 1980ies or a programming history enthusiast. Nonetheless be aware that only '''Ada 83''' is of interest here, no Ada 95 or later version will be considered (or only marginally if it serves an analytical purpose).
+[[Special:RequestAccount|You can request your account here]]
-Feel free to participate to the elaboration of Ada 83 Memory if you are a veteran of the 1980ies . Nonetheless be aware that only '''Ada 83''' is of interest here, no Ada 95 or later version will be considered (or only marginally if it serves an analytical purpose).
+==Notes==
+<references/>