AdaIC News Summer 1997


Newsbits

Scientific high performance computing with Ada 95
DISA sells popular DII software to Allies
AJPO hosts Ada OO seminar
Design of reusable software components: a success story
New lessons learned on transitioning to Ada 95
IEEE Reuse Standards Committee builds on efforts of RIG
Fun and games with Ada
Reuse '97 Workshop - "The Business of Reuse"
Moseman enters GCN Hall of Fame
4th Annual Object Applications Awards


Scientific high performance computing with Ada 95

An example of Ada 95’s successful use in scientific high-performance computing can be found in code developed by Martin J. Stift of the Institute for Astronomy in Vienna. The code can synthesize the integrated polarized spectrum of a rotating magnetic star (the so-called Oblique Rotator), and has been successfully executed in parallel on several processors of a Silicon Graphics Power Challenge XL symmetric multiprocessing server.

Mr. Stift found that, for the calculation of stellar spectra over large wavelength intervals and of stellar atmospheres, the Ada tasking model is much better suited than High Performance FORTRAN.

A first description can be found in http://amok.ast.univie.ac.at/~stift/parallel.html [Martin J. Stift; Institut fuer Astronomie; Tuerkenschanzstr. 17; A-1180 Wien, Austria; tel: 43-1-4706800/35; fax: 43-1-4706800/35; e-mail: stift@astro.ast.univie.ac.at]

DISA sells popular DII software to Allies

Software products that make up the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) are in demand by U.S. military allies and coalition partners.

Canada has bought parts of the Global Command and Control System (GCCS), while Japan, Australia, and Saudi Arabia are reviewing the GCCS components. Also, the United Kingdom has expressed interest in the new Common Operating Environment (COE).

To promote these sales and to make sure that foreign systems are interoperable with DOD systems, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is beefing up its role in foreign military sales of DII products. DISA’s director, LtGen Albert Edmonds, has designated the Joint Requirements Analysis and Integration Unit, or D-7, as the point of contact for foreign military sales.

It is predicted that, in addition to GCCS and COE, products for information security, the Defense Message System, and the Defense Information Systems Network will be in demand as well. [“DII hits international markets,” Thomas Temin, Government Computer News, Jan. 27, 1997, v16 n2 p42]

AJPO hosts Ada OO seminar

The AJPO hosted a seminar on Ada and object orientation on February 26, 1997, at DISA in Falls Church, Va. LTC Hamilton, AJPO Chief, provided a two-hour presentation on Object-Oriented Terms and Concepts, and Richard Riehle, a frequent contributor to the Journal of Object Oriented Programming and Embedded Systems Programming, presented “Kissing a Frog – Polymorphic Types in Object-Oriented Programming”. This seminar covered the notion of dynamic binding with inherited types using Ada 95.

Design of reusable software components: a success story

The U.S. Army’s Product Manager for the Joint Tactical Area Communications Systems (PM-JTACS) and the Joint Spectrum Center (JSC) met with great success in designing reusable software components in Ada. During the course of the development process, several guidelines were developed that greatly increased the reusability of the code. Thirteen organizations within the DOD now use the reuse library for a wide range of applications. The USAF and Army’s Air-Ground-Air Frequency Engineering System (AGAFES) is one of these programs, and it obtained 66 percent reuse and attending cost savings of close to $1 million.

For further details, contact PM-JTACS at 908/532-0556 (Susan Millender) or visit the Reuse Library home page at http://reuse.jsc.mil. [“Design of Reusable Components: A Success Story,” by LTC Robert Kirsch, Susan Millender, and Gregory Wagner, Crosstalk, Nov. 1996, Vol. 9, No. 11, p. 4.]

New lessons learned on transitioning to Ada 95

The AJPO has released the latest set of “Ada 95 Transition Partnership Project Lessons Learned”. These lessons were gathered based on the experiences of five of the AJPO’s Ada 95 Transition Partners Projects. The projects received classroom training from AJPO-sponsored commercial trainers, and hands-on mentoring from CACI, Inc., which has documented the projects’ lessons learned.

An electronic copy of the lessons learned can be found at: http://archive.adaic.com/docs/reports/ajpo/transition-support.

IEEE Reuse Standards Committee builds on efforts of RIG

The Advanced Reuse Technologies Group and Cimarron co-hosted the inaugural meeting of the IEEE Reuse Standards Committee (RSC) on January 16-17 in Clear Lake, Tex. The goal of the RSC is to build upon the efforts of the Reuse Interoperability Group (RIG) by expanding the development of reuse standards. The RIG group laid a good foundation regarding reuse library standards. The RSC will continue the work of the RIG in the development of standards for reuse library interfaces. All work currently in progress will be continued. In addition to the work of the RIG, the RSC will broaden its scope to all reuse related standard activities within the IEEE.

Some recommendations for standardization include standards describing “Fundamental Principles of Software Reuse” and “Domain Analysis”, and Reuse Supplements to the 12207 lifecycle standard and the SPICE standard Also, the RSC will initiate and coordinate other reuse-related efforts as appropriate and coordinate with other U.S. and international standards organizations. [Gary D. Boetticher, Advanced Reuse Technologies Group, 281/461-8300; e-mail: gdb@cs.wvu.edu]

Fun and games with Ada

Ada’s not all work. Ada Towers, ver. 1.00, is a solitaire-type card game written in Ada, and an executable version for Miscosoft Windows Version 1.00 is freely available and can be found at http://archive.adaic.com/tools/ada-towers/. The source code is also available for a small disk charge; the game is approximately 2,000 lines of Ada code, and the User Interface library is about 5,000 lines. [For further information, contact Ada Towers creator: Bill Yow, 750 East Hidden View Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85048; e-mail: byow@mcimail.com]

Reuse ’97 Workshop – “The Business of Reuse”

Reuse ’97 “The Business of Reuse,” being held at the Lakeview Resort in Morgantown, W.V., 21-24 July 1997, will provide an atmosphere where the impacts, considerations, and benefits of reuse to the business enterprise can be investigated by working groups. [Rose Armstrong, Reuse ’97 Program Chair; WVHTC Foundation; 1000 Technology Drive; Fairmont, WV 26554; 304/366-2577; fax; 304/366-2699; e-mail: rmarmstr@wvhtf.org] [Joan M. Ruscin, SAIC/ASSET, ruscinj@source.asset.com]

Mosemann enters GCN Hall of Fame

Lloyd K. Mosemann, II, who spent nearly four decades working to improve software development and use within the Department of Defense (DOD), is the newest member of the Government Computer News’ Hall of Fame. At the awards ceremony, Mosemann said he was beginning to see some of his predictions about software reuse coming true.

In the 1980s, Mosemann recalled saying, “If there is a silver bullet for software in the 1990s, that silver bullet will be reuse.” But as years passed and reuse was on the back burner at the DOD, Mosemann said he began to think he might have missed the mark. But as economics demanded improvements in software processes, it became more difficult for the Pentagon and Services to build custom systems from scratch. Instead, it became necessary to reuse existing code combined with off-the-shelf packages to keep costs down. Mosemann, who retired January 1996, said of the award, “It’s truly nice to be both gone and not forgotten.”

[Government Computer News, November 4, 1996, v15 n28 p61(1)]

4th Annual Object Applications Awards

Object World Frankfurt ’97 will take place on October 7-10, 1997, together with COMDEX Internet at the Sheraton Conference Center Frankfurt/Main. One of the highlights of the show will be the fourth edition of the annual OMG international Object Application Awards. An entry kit may be obtained from: tel: +49-6173 -9558-50; fax: +49-6173-9404-20; e-mail: LogOn@omg.org; WWW: http://www.ltt.de. [Roberto Zicari, Program Chair]

These Newsbits have been extracted from the AdaIC’s “Software Engineering News Briefs” – a regular news feature that is sent out electronically on a weekly basis. To be added to the distribution list, please send e-mail to: listproc@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us. In the body of the message, write: subscribe newslist.


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