Additional project-oriented packaging and add-on components such as configuration management support, MFC bindings, plot and draw graphical libraries, and DOS extender support are available commercially. Academic discounting can be arranged on a per-case basis.
Unix-hosted versions will also be available for SPARC/Solaris and HP/HP-UX and substantial academic discount.
For academic sales and distributor discount information, contact Thomson Software Products at 1-800-833-0042.
The founder of the Ada 83 language envisioned an elegant general-purpose programming language universally accessible on the desktop of every engineer, programmer, student, and hobbyist. The founder of the Ada 95 language envisioned the ultimately flexible object-oriented programming language supported by blazingly fast compiler technology and a simple, open library model. For the first time, these two powerful visions have been blended. With ObjectAda for Windows, the promise of Ada has been fulfilled.
ObjectAda for Windows is packaged and priced to fit the needs of all types of users, from students to high-end development teams, who need the tools to engineer high-quality, reliable 32-bit programs for Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 3.1 and DOS.
ObjectAda products represent the leading edge of Ada and Windows development technology. Put this visionary, cost-effective, object-oriented technology to work on all of your Windows-based applications.
ObjectAda for Windows is full, validated Ada 95, not just the Ada 83 subset. ObjectAda for Windows is one of the first validated Ada 95 compilers, and the first for a general-purpose, widely-available computing platform. In addition, virtually all Ada 83 code will compile unchanged with ObjectAda.
ObjectAda for Windows validation includes annexes A, B, C, and D of the language standard. Annex A support provides complete coverage of the Ada pre-defined libraries. Annex B makes it easy to interface Ada 95 with other languages, including C and C++. Annex C includes full system-level support functionality. . Annex D, fully implemented within the constraints of Win32, complements the inherent real-time capabilities of the core language with a full-featured set of real-time primitive operations.
ObjectAda for Windows 95 and NT is fully validated with the most recently available validation suite, comprising thousands of conformity tests covering all language syntactic and semantic categories. Multi-tasking applications are mapped one-to-one with Win32 threads.
The ObjectAda for Windows compiler features a state-of-the-art analytical engine designed by the chief architect of the Ada 95 language. Our compiler technology results in compilation speeds many times faster than preceding Ada technologies, and comparable to the best compiler technology used for other general purpose programming languages.
Unlike most Ada development environments, ObjectAda for Windows does not impose a bulky proprietary library architecture on the user. The ObjectAda library model is simple, open, and extremely fast. Source files are mapped one-for-one with object files which can be intermixed with object files from any other language. Simple ASCII text files maintain basic build information, and dependency information is taken directly from source files. Sophisticated caching techniques make this library system faster and more reliable than other library models.
Hypertext versions of the Ada 95 Language Reference Manual (LRM) and Ada 95 Rationale are included with ObjectAda for Windows, making it easy to browse the full scope and breadth of Ada 95 and to understand the reasoning behind its design. Compile-time errors are cross-referenced into the LRM: just click on an error message and it will present the exact portion of the LRM that has been violated, greatly reducing the edit-compile-debug cycle.
Comprehensive context-sensitive help is provided for each component of the environment and for menus, windows, and dialogs.
ObjectAda for Windows includes a special version of HOT_Ada, the popular hypermedia tutorial and courseware for Ada 95 and object oriented analysis, design, and programming. This special three-volume set includes Ada 95 coding examples derived from object oriented techniques and developed using ObjectAda and its integrated GUI Builder and Win32 bindings.
Experts agree that Ada 95 is the one general purpose language best suited to Java-compatible development, and is a far more natural fit than C++. Now, with integrated AppletMagic technology, you have the best of both worlds. Use the same powerful environment and the same Ada 95 source code to develop both native machine code applications and Java J-code applets! If you need both native compiler performance and Java applet flexibility, ObjectAda is your best solution.
Making sophisticated Windows apps is easier than ever with bindings to the latest Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) library. This is not a re-implementation of MFC, but rather an Ada binding to the actual Microsoft library. This means that your applications will always be able to take advantage of the latest innovations that are introduced into MFC by Microsoft. A core set of bindings is included with the OpenPack add-on module. Additional components are available seperately.
The ObjectAda for Windows GUI Builder makes creating Windows resources a snap, dramatically shortening the development time of Windows-based applications in Ada, and increasing the maintainability of the interface. Design of any interface with menus, buttons, MPI windows and more is made easy. ObjectAda's GUI Builder automatically generates the corresponding Ada code. Dynamic code for different events may be attached to any Windows object by double-clicking on the object and typing the code with a convenient built-in editor.
The ObjectAda GUI Builder provides the ability to import custom OCXs through a simple drag-and-drop, allowing your applications to take advantage of existing libraries of OLE controls. With ObjectAda, there is no need to re-invent controls each time you create a new Windows application.
ObjectAda provides easy-to-use mechanisms for creating 32-Bit Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) for use by other applications, and for using existing DLLs. ObjectAda automatically takes care of all housekeeping issues, such as maintaining address variables and providing entry points for initialization and finalization of the Ada runtime.
The entire Windows inventory of system-level calls is open to ObjectAda thanks to the included Win32Ada bindings. Programmers are not confined to a particular set of libraries, but instead have free flexibility to create any Win32 application imaginable.
A comprehensive set of graphical libraries, written entirely in Ada, provide you with the means to easily create the most sophisticated geometrical plotting and drawing applications. AdaDraw provides facilities for drawing and manipulating graphical objects consisting of various symbols (such as circles, arcs, and polygons) and to use borders, titles, fill colors, and patterns. AdaPlot provides the means for displaying many types of plots, including bar charts, line plots, scatter plots, and pie charts.
ObjectAda features comprehensive, thick Ada bindings to the ODBC standard database interface, allowing ODBC-conformant access to any database providing an ODBC driver. These bindings, available only with ObjectAda, have been certified by NIST for quality and conformance and are the de-facto standard Ada bindings for ODBC.
Database programmers who wish to design to a level more abstract than ODBC may take advantage of the ObjectAda SQL pre-compiler. The pre-compiler allows you to embed standard SQL code into your Ada programs. These embedded SQL statements are automatically translated into Ada ODBC calls.
ObjectAda includes Winsock bindings to facilitate the development of network applications conforming to the TCP/IP protocol.
The ObjectAda user interface is designed to be immediately familiar to users of the most widely available Windows development environment, Microsoft Visual C++. This allows existing C++ developers to move up to Ada 95 without facing a steep learning curve for the development environment, and also facilitates mixed-language development. Individual tools, such as the compiler and builder, may also be run from the command line, for flexible use interactively and in batch files.
ObjectAda includes an integrated source browser that operates in two modes. In basic mode, you can click on any identifier in a source window and immediately determine its declaration and references. In advanced mode, a tree-based visual browser tracks the relationships between objects, including call/ caller graphs, dependencies relationships, and organization by type, definition, and reference.
A powerful Ada source debugger is fully integrated into the IDE, allowing you to manipulate breakpoints, objects, and tasks with simple mouse clicks.
ObjectAda supports standard Microsoft Codeview symbology. Codeview compatible debuggers, such as WinDbg, can be used for source-level symbolic debug of Ada code, as well as mixed language applications such as Ada, C, C++, and Pascal.
The ObjectAda integrated editor is an enhancement to the editor used in ActivAda for Windows, our award-winning Ada 83 environment (PC Week's Analyst's Choice Award). The editor color-codes Ada 95 syntactical elements and provides automated features such as indenting and group comments. Flexible search and replace with regular expressions is also included.
The ObjectAda Project Manager provides powerful control of project elements. A graphical tree model is used to coordinate and manage multiple targets. Each target in a project can have its own project settings (such as different debug options), and can contain any kind of file, including source code and ordinary text. A target may also be identified as a code resource, enabling it to be used over and over by different users for different projects. Each target may contain multiple entry points, or main programs, supporting flexible code sharing.
The premier solution for configuration management, Atria's ClearCase, can be fully integrated with ObjectAda for Windows. Ada source and object files can be controlled directly by ClearCase in full compatibility with files used for any other language or CASE tool. The ClearCase/ Ada integration is available separately or in conjunction with the ClearCase tool itself.
An 80386 or better with at least 80 MB disk space is required. An 80486 or better is recommended. Windows 95 and NT configurations require at least 12 MB of RAM, 16MB recommended. Additional RAM will result in substantially improved performance.
The first academic configuration is available now. A complete line of commercial configurations for Windows 95 and Intel Windows NT will be available for general sale in 3 Q 1996. Availability dates for PowerPC NT, Alpha NT, and other platforms, as well as specialized target configurations, are to be announced.