Ada '83 Quality and Style:

Guidelines for Professional Programmers

Copyright 1989, 1991,1992 Software Productivity Consortium, Inc., Herndon, Virginia.

Style Guide navigation aids...
High-level TOC - Links to Style Guide chapters.
Detailed TOC - Links to all numbered section headings.
Chapter summaries - Links to guideline summaries by chapter and topic.
Table of contents from Postscript printed version.

About this book, from the Introduction:

"This book [and this hypertext version] is intended to help the computer professional produce better Ada programs. It presents a set of specific guidelines for using the powerful features of Ada in a disciplined manner. Each guideline consists of a concise statement of the principles that should be followed, and a rationale explaining why following the guideline is important. In most cases, an example of the use of the guideline is provided, and in some cases a further example is included showing the consequences of violating the guideline...."

About this Web/HTML version:

This conversion of the Ada '83 Style Guide to HTML was completed for the Ada Information Clearinghouse in August/September 1995, for installation on the AdaIC web server at http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/AdaIC/.

No formatted copy suitable for automatic conversion to HTML could be found. (There are as yet no general-purpose PostScript-to-HTML converters). The text-only version was therefore used as a starting point. Logic n.v.'s TextToHTML was used to encode HTML special characters and create an initial file set with rudimentary formatting. The rest of the conversion and formatting was "semi-automated" (in other words, mostly manual gruntwork aided by some clever macros). A printed copy of the PostScript version was used to guide formatting in order to stay close to the original in appearance and intent.

This HTML version adds several features and improvements, notably:

Cross references to the Ada '83 Language Reference Manual that appeared in Appendix A have been "instantiated": lists of live hypertext links to related sections in the LRM can be found at the end of most subsections in this Style Guide. A companion HTML version of the LRM was created for this purpose. LRM subsections in turn point back to related Style Guide sections, creating an integrated syntax and style reference for Ada '83.
In-line section references are live hypertext links, making related topics easily available.
Guideline summaries that facilitate quick guideline review are available via links from several places, including a "Summary Table of Contents" on this page.
Boxes (single-cell HTML tables) were added around examples to highlight them.

-- Jim Irving 11sep95

Style Guide Chapters

Copyright, Trademarks, Preface, Authors and Acknowledgements
CHAPTER 1: Introduction
CHAPTER 2: Source Code Presentation
CHAPTER 3: Readability
CHAPTER 4: Program Structure
CHAPTER 5: Programming Practices
CHAPTER 6: Concurrency
CHAPTER 7: Portability
CHAPTER 8: Reusability
CHAPTER 9: Performance
CHAPTER 10: Complete Examples
APPENDIX A: Map from Ada Language Reference Manual to Guidelines
REFERENCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Chapter summary topics

Summary of Chapter 2:
Source Code Presentation code formatting

Summary of Chapter 3:
Readability spelling
naming conventions
comments
using types

Summary of Chapter 4:
Program Structure high-level structure
visibility
exceptions

Summary of Chapter 5:
Programming Practices optional parts of the syntax
parameter lists
types
data structures
expressions
statements
visibility
using exceptions
erroneous execution

Summary of Chapter 6:
Concurrency tasking
communication
termination

Summary of Chapter 7:
Portability fundamentals
numeric types and expressions
storage control
tasking
exceptions
representation clauses and implementation-dependent features
input/output

Summary of Chapter 8:
Reusability understanding and clarity
robustness
adaptability
independence

Summary of Chapter 9:
Performance improving execution speed

Table of Contents from Postscript printed version

CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1
1.1 HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 2
1.2 TO THE NEW Ada PROGRAMMER 2
1.3 TO THE EXPERIENCED Ada PROGRAMMER 3
1.4 TO THE SOFTWARE PROJECT MANAGER 3
1.5 TO CONTRACTING AGENCIES AND STANDARDS ORGANIZATIONS 4
CHAPTER 2 Source Code Presentation 5
2.1 CODE FORMATTING 5
2.2 SUMMARY 15
CHAPTER 3 Readability 17
3.1 SPELLING 17
3.2 NAMING CONVENTIONS 20
3.3 COMMENTS 24
3.4 USING TYPES 35
3.5 SUMMARY 37
CHAPTER 4 Program Structure 41
4.1 HIGH-LEVEL STRUCTURE 41
4.2 VISIBILITY 46
4.3 EXCEPTIONS 50
4.4 SUMMARY 52
CHAPTER 5 Programming Practices 55
5.1 OPTIONAL PARTS OF THE SYNTAX 55
5.2 PARAMETER LISTS 58
5.3 TYPES 60
5.4 DATA STRUCTURES 63
5.5 EXPRESSIONS 66
5.6 STATEMENTS 69
5.7 VISIBILITY 77
5.8 USING EXCEPTIONS 80
5.9 ERRONEOUS EXECUTION 83
5.10 SUMMARY 87
CHAPTER 6 Concurrency 91
6.1 TASKING 91
6.2 COMMUNICATION 96
6.3 TERMINATION 104
6.4 SUMMARY 107
CHAPTER 7 Portability 109
7.1 FUNDAMENTALS 110
7.2 NUMERIC TYPES AND EXPRESSIONS 113
7.3 STORAGE CONTROL 116
7.4 TASKING 117
7.5 EXCEPTIONS 118
7.6 REPRESENTATION CLAUSES AND IMPLEMENTATION-DEPENDENT
 FEATURES 119
7.7 INPUT/OUTPUT 122
7.8 SUMMARY 124
CHAPTER 8 Reusability 127
8.1 UNDERSTANDING AND CLARITY 128
8.2 ROBUSTNESS 130
8.3 ADAPTABILITY 136
8.4 INDEPENDENCE 147
8.5 SUMMARY 151
CHAPTER 9 Performance 153
9.1 IMPROVING EXECUTION SPEED 153
9.2 SUMMARY 156
CHAPTER 10 Complete Examples 157
10.1 MENU-DRIVEN USER INTERFACE 157
10.2 LINE-ORIENTED PORTABLE DINING PHILOSOPHERS EXAMPLE 165
10.3 WINDOW-ORIENTED PORTABLE DINING PHILOSOPHERS EXAMPLE 170
APPENDIX A Map from Ada Language Reference Manual to
 Guidelines 179
REFERENCES 185
BIBLIOGRAPHY 189
INDEX 193