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- Fourth Release of GW ez2load Ada Compiler and Tutorial Kit for MS-DOS
- ------------------------------------------------------------------
- January 15, 1996
- ----------------
-
- Michael B. Feldman (mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu)
- Charles A. Kann (ckann@seas.gwu.edu)
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052
- (202) 994-5919 (voice)
- (202) 994-0227 (fax)
-
- We are happy to announce the fourth release of ez2load, an easy-install
- kit of free Ada 83 and Ada 95 compilers and editors, and a shareware
- tutorial for Ada 95.
-
- This kit is intended primarily for distribution on the February release
- of the Walnut Creek Ada CD-ROM, but it is equally useful
- as an ftp or diskette distribution.
-
- New in this release:
- -------------------
- - GNAT version 3.01 for MS-DOS is now included. This is the released
- DOS version of the compiler that was validated for SGI in November.
- Since the base compiler is the same, all of Ada 95 is now
- supported and passed the relevant validation tests. The zipfiles
- now match the "official" distribution.
-
- There is unfortunately still no tasking under DOS. The compiler will
- compile a tasking program correctly, so you can do syntax/semantic
- checking on DOS, but you cannot link the program because the needed
- runtime libraries are missing. For GNAT with tasking on the
- Intel platform, get GNAT for OS/2 or Windows NT or Linux.
- The various GNAT ports are at cs.nyu.edu.
-
- - Improved and extended versions of the AdaCAPS (DOS) and AdaIDE
- (Windows 3.1) editor/development environments.
-
- - The GW-GNAT editor is gone. We are no longer supporting it,
- because it is completely superceded by AdaCAPS and AdaIDE, which
- are much better environments.
-
- - A new utility which, given a compilable package interface, will
- produce a skeletal, compilable package body, with syntactically
- valid skeletal subprogram bodies. This is called makebody and
- runs as a tool under AdaCAPS.
-
- - A binding to the DJGPP version of PD Curses, with a higher-level
- package called AdaTUI, Ada Textual User Interface. PD Curses is
- included in the distribution.
-
- - A new release of DRGEN, from Allen Parrish and David Cordes of
- the University of Alabama. Given a compiled package, DRGEN will
- produce an interactive test harness for unit-testing the package.
-
- - A new release of David Wheeler's Lovelace, a free Ada 95 tutorial
- in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). A copy of the Cello HTML
- browser for Windows is included.
-
- - A new release of John Herro's shareware Ada-Tutr. If you plan to
- keep it to learn Ada 95, please send him the shareware fee.
-
- - If you need only the new editors, download editors.zip _and_ the .exe
- and .scr files. If you need only DRGEN, download drgen.zip.
- You do not need the other zipfiles.
-
- - The file winhelp.zip contains a set of Windows Help files created by
- the AdaIDE authors for several of the DJGPP tools. These are not
- essential to using AdaIDE or GNAT; download this file if you wish.
-
- ez2load is available by anonymous ftp at ftp.gwu.edu, pub/ada/ez2load,
- and also in the Public Ada LIbrary at wuarchive.wustl.edu (and numerous
- mirror sites), languages/ada/compiler/ez2load.
-
- Included in the ez2load kit are:
- -------------------------------
-
- - a menu-driven installer program
-
- - GW-Ada/Ed, an integrated Ada 83 environment that provides an excellent
- way to get started with Ada. This system incorporates an editor,
- compiler and virtual-code interpreter, and a very useful multi-window
- runtime monitor. Several directories of interesting example programs
- are provided, including some nice programs to demonstrate Ada's
- multitasking capabilities. Based on NYU's Ada/Ed compiler,
- GW-Ada/Ed was developed by Charles Kann, GW doctoral student,
- and Arthur Vargas Lopes, a GW graduate now of Porto Alegre, Brazil.
-
- - GNAT (GNU/NYU Ada Translator) for DOS, an Ada 95 compiler that runs
- under djgpp (GCC for DOS) and provides a nearly-complete implementation
- of Ada 95. (Tasking is not yet supported in the DOS version of GNAT.)
- A basic djgpp distribution is included in the kit and installed along
- with GNAT. GNAT is a product of a team at New York University and
- elsewhere, and is now maintained by Ada Core Technologies (ACT).
- Report compiler bugs to them, report@gnat.com.
-
- - AdaCAPS (Ada Computer-Aided Programming System), an interactive development
- environment for GNAT. The editor provides full support for multiple
- re-sizable windows (overlaid or tiled), mouse and keystroke interactions,
- and single-keystroke invocation of GNAT compilation, binding, and execution
- commands. Ken Price of Priceless Software, Perpperell, Mass, is the
- author of this very nice IDE, which has the "look-and-feel" of a
- Borland "Turbo" product.
-
- - AdaIDE (Ada Interactive Development Environment), an IDE that runs
- under Microsoft Windows 3.1, with the "look-and-feel" of a Microsoft
- "Visual" product. Errol Martin and Don Overheu of Canberra,
- Australia, are the authors of this IDE.
-
- - a set of simple DOS command-line commands, gcompile/glink/gexecute,
- which allow new GNAT users to do simple compilation and linking
- operations, and to execute programs in an environment that produces
- a neatly-formatted traceback in case of an unhandled exception.
- These commands are invoked by GW-GNAT and AdaCAPS but can also be run
- from the DOS command line. Charles Kann is the author.
-
- - AdaTUI, Ada Textual User Interface, a binding to PD Curses
- and a demonstration textual user interface builder package.
- The author is Alden Dima of GWU.
-
- - a fast hypertext Ada 95 Reference Manual. The hypertext RM can be invoked
- from GW-GNAT, AdaCAPS and AdaIDE or used as a stand-alone program. The
- author is Arthur Vargas Lopes.
-
- - DRGEN - a tool which allows programmers to easily generate driver programs
- for unit testing Ada packages. This tool was written by Allan Parrish and
- David Cortes.
-
- - Lovelace - A hypertext Ada 95 tutorial by David Wheeler. It includes
- the Cello web browser.
-
- - Ada-Tutor - a shareware package by John Herro, providing computer-aided
- instruction in Ada 95. This is an excellent package for those wishing
- to teach themselves Ada 95.
-
- All components are free except for Ada-Tutor, which carries a shareware
- fee if you decide to keep it and use it.
-
- Acquiring ez2load by anonymous ftp:
- ----------------------------------
-
- The ez2load suite is available from ftp.gwu.edu in the directory
- pub/ada/ez2load, and also from the Public Ada Library (wuarchive.wustl.edu)
- and its mirrors, in the directory languages/ada/compiler/ez2load.
-
- Here are all the files to copy from the ftp directory:
-
- README - This readme file
- ginstall.exe - Program to do the install from a hard disk.
- dinstall.exe - Program to do the install if you use diskettes.
- install.scr - This script files gives options to the install program.
- unzip.exe - unzip, used to unzip distribution files.
- README.DSK - A readme file to explain how to use this distribution
- to make a diskette distribution.
-
- adaed1.zip
- adaed2.zip - Zip files containing GW-Ada/Ed.
-
- adatutor.zip - Zip file containing adatutor.
-
- gnat3011.zip
- gnat3012.zip
- gnat3013.zip
- dj112m4.zip - Zip files containing djgpp and GNAT
-
- editors.zip - separate package containing just AdaIDE and
- AdaCAPS.
-
- drgen.zip - separate zipfile containing DRGEN and a few
- additional demos.
-
- winhelp.zip - separate zipfile containing Windows Help for
- several DJGPP tools.
-
- adatui.zip - separate zipfile containing just AdaTUI.
-
- Download the first six files, and any or all of the zip files, into
- a "clean" single directory of your choosing, then change to that
- directory and type "ginstall".
-
- The complete distribution occupies about 8.5 megabytes; the unpacked
- and installed distribution requires about 15 megabytes. You need an
- MS-DOS computer with an 80386 or better CPU; 4 megabytes minimum RAM,
- 8 mb preferred.
-