Editorial Policy for Ada User Journal

Another option is the Lego Mindstorm robotics kit.

The robotics contains a Hitachi H8 microcontroller which is supported by the latest GCC version. Recently there was a posting on the *crossgcc* list regarding building a C cross compiler for H8 with GNU/Linux as host , so there is at least a GCC-based C cross compilor.

When GNAT moves to GCC common source tree (according to earlier posting on this cla-list, that is planed for GCC 3.1) it shouldn´t be to difficult to build a GNAT cross compiler for H8. It might be equaly easy (or difficult) with GCC 2.81 (if it supports H8) used for GNAT 3.13p.

The next step would then be to build a binding to the robotic ROM image, making it possible to control the robot from Ada.

Hans-Olof Danielsson, Danitek AB, Dragspelsv. 20, S-732 32 Arboga, Sweden, Tel: int +46 589 140 38, Email: Hans-Olof.Danielsson@swipnet.se, Web: www.node98.com/danitek, Member of Node98, www.node98.com

There is a GNAT Ada interface for the Mindstorms kit available at: http://www.

It is not complete but a nice start.

[See also "'Fun with Ada' Lab at AdaPower" in AUJ 21.2 (July 2000). -- dc]

From: Rush Kester

Date: Mon, 05 Mar 2001 14:00:59 -0500

Organization: AdaSoft at Johns Hopkins Univ/ Applied Physics Lab

Subject: Re: Increased Interest In Ada?

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada

There are two Ada interfaces to the Lego Mindstorms robotics kit already available. One is Ada to NQC developed by Barry Fagin at the US Air Force Academy, see http://www.usafa.af.mil/

Rush Kester, Software Systems Engineer AdaSoft at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

> I could imagine Ada being popular in electrical engineering departments if there were a convenient and inexpensive (maybe free?) Ada environment for playing around with embedded computing. [...] I am thinking of Dr. McCormick's model railroad class [...] If [...] was packaged as "An embedded programming course in a bag" so that a prof could just pick it up and start teaching it, this might go a long way toward encouraging Ada as an educational tool as well as a practical tool for building real-world systems. (Does anyone smell commercial possibilities here? :-)

Some time ago, John McCormick told me he was looking into exactly that: commercialising the hardware and software for his model railroad class in order for others to be able to buy it "off the shelf" and use it for similar classes at other universities.

I contacted him to check what progress has been made. John's reply is reposted here for your information, with his approval.

[John McCormick wrote: -- dc]

[...] I am indeed working on just such a project. Ultimately it would include:

1. Printed circuit boards to make it easy to connect a model railroad to one or more computers. The connections are made through D/A, A/D, and digital I/O on the computer end which should make it possible to use just about any computer

2. An Ada environment for developing software.

3. A sample program that can be easily adapted to any railroad geometry.

4. An undergraduate level introductory textbook on real-time embedded systems based on the train layout. Of course, it will use Ada as the development language. This piece of the project is still in the dreaming stage.

The hardware development is being supported by two local corporations: Rockwell-Collins (avionics) and Maytag (household appliances). My target date for completing the hardware is the end of this summer.

Feel free to pass this information on to anyone interested.

John W. McCormick, mccormick@cs.uni.edu, john.mccormick@acm.org Computer Science Department, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0507, voice (319) 273-2618, fax (319) 273-7123 http://www.cs.uni.edu/
~mccormic/

Ada-related Resources

Revised Ada Reference Manual (ARM) and Ada Issues (AI)

From: Jeffrey Carter

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 04:09:54 GMT

Subject: Re: Reference manual

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada

The place to start with Ada questions is www.adapower.com And you'll find a version of the ARM there.

A revised ARM incorporating accepted Ada Issues (AIs) is available at http://www.ada-auth.org/~acats/

From: Tucker Taft

Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 13:38:03 -0500

Organization: AverStar (formerly Intermetrics) Burlington, MA USA

Subject: Re: XML/HTML DOM in Ada

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada

[...] An overall (html-ized) index of AIs is now available (thanks, Randy!) at: http://www.ada-auth.org/AI-SUMMARY.html

Tucker Taft, stt@avercom.net, http://www.averstar.com/~stt/, Chief Technology Officer, AverCom Corporation (A Titan Company), Burlington, MA, USA (AverCom was formerly the Commercial Division of AverStar)

From: "Randy Brukardt"

Date: Tue, 13 Mar 2001 13:09:01 -0600

Subject: Re: XML/HTML DOM in Ada

Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada

[In reply to a reference to the Ada Issues (AI) on the www.adaic.org website: -- dc]

That's the wrong URL. The AIs on AdaIC.org are not maintained, and are very stale. (The ARA is starting a housecleaning on AdaIC.org, so perhaps this will change.)

The current set of AIs is found at: www.ada-auth.org/ais.html

New feature: The summary is now available in HTML with links to the actual AIs, so you don't even have to wade through a text file.

Randy Brukardt, ARG Editor

More Ways to Access Comp.lang.ada Newsgroup

From: "Gary L. Howell"