ADA 94 PRESENTATION

On Thursday, July 28, 1994, John Barnes, head of the U.K. delegation to the ISO group on Ada, will present a brief overview of what's new with Ada 94 and its goals. He will discuss a survey of where languages are now and what can be done about it.

Barnes was a key member of the original Ada design team; he worked on the object-oriented features of Ada 94. He is also the author of Programming in Ada, the definitive text and reference on Ada.

The free presentation will be held at the Computer Literacy Bookshop in Tyson's Corner, VA from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm. The store is located near the American Cafe at 8603 Westwood Center Drive. Call (703) 734-7771 for details or questions.

[Source: Computer Literacy Bookshops, Inc.]

        ADA CHOSEN TO DEVELOP PILOTING SYSTEM FOR PARIS' 
                    UNDERGROUND LINE, METEOR

The Ada language has been chosen to develop the automatic piloting system on the new Paris underground line METEOR. Reliability, security and long-term software lifecycle were determining criteria for the choice of the language.

Developed on behalf of the Paris Underground Railway Company (RATP) by Gel-Alsthom for the trains and Matra transport for the automatic systems, the 20-km long METEOR line will link the South-West and North-East Parisian suburbs and will be equipped with 18 railway stations. The trains will feature the Matra Transport automatic piloting system. This system automatically controls the train traffic, regulates train speed, manages various alarm devices and allows traffic of both automatic and non-automatic trains on the same line.

The METEOR project amounts to 6 billion French francs, not including the trains and is scheduled to ensure up to 96 million trips annually beginning in 1997.

[Source: Press Release from Alsys. For more information, contact: Tish Weamer, Managing Editor, Alsys, 10251 Vista Sorrento Pkwy., Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92121, U.S.A.]

On June 27, 1994, Alsys announced ActivAda for Windows, an Ada Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Windows. Alsys also announced that it is reducing the prices of its PC-based Ada development environment for DOS and for UNIX by up to 80%.

ActivAda for Windows includes an optimizing compiler that generates fast, efficient code for both DOS and Windows and takes full advantage of the underlying system architecture. It includes a comprehensive toolset which allows developers to write complex, powerful and easy-to-use applications while maximizing their productivity.

"Our strategy is designed to spread the appeal of Ada for both commercial and military applications on PCs," said Ben Goodwin, president of Alsys, Inc. "Our leadership in the PC-based Ada marketplace allows us to offer quality, high performance products to commercial and government applications developers at prices which are on par with C/C++ products."

ActivAda for Windows operates on Windows version 3.1 or higher. It requires any 386, 486 or upwards compatible Intel-based system with a minimum of 8 megabytes of RAM and 30 megabytes of disk. North American pricing for a single user is $995. Quantity discounts are available and first customer shipments will begin at the end of July, 1994.

Alsys will continue to enhance this product line with new tools, features and improvements and will offer an Ada development environment for Windows NT later this year.

[Source: Press Release from Alsys. For more information, contact: Tish Weamer, Managing Editor, Alsys, 10251 Vista Sorrento Pkwy., Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92121, U.S.A.]