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Comparative evaluation of high-level real-time programming languages

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Abstract

Owing to the fast growing need for better means of building real-time systems, a number of representative languages used in real-time programming is surveyed. The evaluation focuses on seven languages which possess explicit real-time features. Based on a categorization of the latter, the seven languages are then compared with respect to their real-time capabilities. The strong points and the limitations of Ada and PEARL, the only high-level real-time languages readily applicable in industrial control environments, are covered in more detail. The evaluation reveals that none of the languages actually used in industry is genuinely real-time. Therefore, a number of new features is suggested for incorporation into existing or future languages and their run-time environments. These proposals are meant to advance the inadequate state of affairs, and also to reignite the discussion of this topic in the real-time community.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computing Science, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Wolfgang A. Halang

  2. Department of Computer and Information Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, 07102, Newark, NJ, USA

    Alexander D. Stoyenko

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  1. Wolfgang A. Halang
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Halang, W.A., Stoyenko, A.D. Comparative evaluation of high-level real-time programming languages. Real-Time Syst 2, 365–382 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01995678

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