An alternative toolset for analysis of Ada programs

Abstract

There are a number of tools available on the market today that provide a means of documenting or enforcing the design and coding policies of Ada programs. Alternatively, there are few tools that provide insight into how such policies impact the low-level details of program execution, particularly with respect to performance. It is the objective of this paper to present the elements of an alternative toolset that provide the software engineers developing the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System (CAATS) program at HCSD with precisely this insight.

It will be suggested that tools of the nature created on the CAATS program should be provided, or at least supported, by the Ada vendor community so that all software development organizations can realize their benefits. Vendor support would relieve customers from the burden of maintaining tools that are based on proprietary, and often dynamic implementations.