Source : WordNet®

ADA
     n : an enzyme found in mammals that can catalyze the deamination
         of adenosine into inosine and ammonia; "ADA deficiency
         can lead to one form of severe combined immunodeficiency
         disease"; "the gene encoding ADA was one of the earlier
         human genes to be isolated and cloned for study" [syn: {adenosine
         deaminase}]

Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Ada
     
         (After {Ada Lovelace}) A {Pascal}-descended
        language, designed by Jean Ichbiah's team at {CII Honeywell}
        in 1979, made mandatory for Department of Defense software
        projects by the Pentagon.  The original language was
        standardised as "Ada 83", the latest is "{Ada 95}".
     
        Ada is a large, complex, {block-structured} language aimed
        primarily at {embedded} applications.  It has facilities for
        {real-time} response, {concurrency}, hardware access and
        reliable run-time error handling.  In support of large-scale
        {software engineering}, it emphasises {strong typing}, {data
        abstraction} and {encapsulation}.  The type system uses {name
        equivalence} and includes both {subtype}s and {derived type}s.
        Both fixed and {floating-point} numerical types are supported.
     
        {Control flow} is fully bracketed: if-then-elsif-end if,
        case-is-when-end case, loop-exit-end loop, goto.  Subprogram
        parameters are in, out, or inout.  Variables imported from
        other packages may be hidden or directly visible.  Operators
        may be {overloaded} and so may {enumeration} literals.  There
        are user-defined {exception}s and {exception handler}s.
     
        An Ada program consists of a set of packages encapsulating
        data objects and their related operations.  A package has a
        separately compilable body and interface.  Ada permits
        {generic package}s and subroutines, possibly parametrised.
     
        Ada support {single inheritance}, using "tagged types" which
        are types that can be extended via {inheritance}.
     
        Ada programming places a heavy emphasis on {multitasking}.
        Tasks are synchronised by the {rendezvous}, in which a task
        waits for one of its subroutines to be executed by another.
        The conditional entry makes it possible for a task to test
        whether an entry is ready.  The selective wait waits for
        either of two entries or waits for a limited time.
     
        Ada is often criticised, especially for its size and
        complexity, and this is attributed to its having been designed
        by committee.  In fact, both Ada 83 and Ada 95 were designed
        by small design teams to be internally consistent and tightly
        integrated.  By contrast, two possible competitors, {Fortran
        90} and {C++} have both become products designed by large and
        disparate volunteer committees.
     
        See also {Ada/Ed}, {Toy/Ada}.
     
        {Home of the Brave Ada Programmers
        (http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/)}.  {Ada FAQs
        (http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/FAQ/)} (hypertext), {text only
        (ftp://lglftp.epfl.ch/pub/Ada/FAQ)}.
     
        {(http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/languages/ada/)},
        {(ftp://ajpo.sei.cmu.edu/)},
        {(ftp://stars.rosslyn.unisys.com/pub/ACE_8.0)}.
     
        E-mail: .
     
        {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.lang.ada}.
     
        {An Ada grammar (ftp://primost.cs.wisc.edu/)} including a lex
        scanner and yacc parser is available.  E-mail:
        .
     
        {Another yacc grammar and parser for Ada by Herman Fischer
        (ftp://wsmr-simtel20.army.mil/PD2:GRAM2.SRC)}.
     
        An {LR parser} and {pretty-printer} for {Ada} from NASA is
        available from the {Ada Software Repository}.
     
        {Adamakegen} generates {makefiles} for {Ada} programs.
     
        ["Reference Manual for the Ada Programming Language", ANSI/MIL
        STD 1815A, US DoD (Jan 1983)].  Earlier draft versions
        appeared in July 1980 and July 1982.  ISO 1987.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (2000-08-12)

Ada++
     
         An {object-oriented} extension to {Ada},
        implemented as an Ada {preprocessor}.  Obsoleted by {Ada 95}
        which includes object-oriented features.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1995-09-19)