Porting Ada: a report from the field

With the constant barrage of new systems, porting software applications is inevitable. This article takes a look at the problems involved in porting an Ada/C application. The porting effort begins when the software architecture is defined and the code implemented. The task is completed with the successful execution of the software on all target platforms. The AFATDS porting effort to the HP RISC platform was completed successfully. The effort to port AFATDS to an InteVSCO Unix platform is still incomplete and is awaiting an Ada compiler upgrade that can pass the AFATDS messaging schema´s large arrays to generic procedures. With the numerous operating systems available, the constant barrage of new operating system releases, and the continual hardware advancements, the need to port software applications is evident. The success of any porting effort depends on the maturation and reliability of the tools being used. If the Department of Defense´s dual-use strategy is to succeed, DoD must also foster the development of reliable and affordable Ada tools.<>