Ada (trade name) Portability Guidelines.

This report presents the results of a study in using Ada to write portable programs. These programs with little or no modification, can be used in different target environments than those for which they were originally written. Ordinarily, a different target environment means a different computer, although the difference may instead be in the target operating system or peripherals. Software portability is one of the main cost-saving benefits anticipates with the use of Ada. Support for portability was a major goal in the design of the Ada language. However, portability does not come automatically with the use of Ada; programs written without specific attention to portability will not in general be portable. This report presents guidelines to be followed in order to produce code that is portable. A major goal in undertaking this study was support for development of a highly-portable Ada implementation of the JINTACCS Automated Message Preparation System (JAMPS). However, the guidelines are equally applicable to any program requiring portability. The guidelines are designed to permit an office conducting an acquisition to supply them to contractors as direction or guidance . They may also be useful in evaluating the portability of an existing implementation.