Xref:	news2.mv.net comp.edu:5973 comp.lang.ada:21191 comp.os.msdos.djgpp:4561 comp.software-eng:17499
From:	mfeldman AT seas DOT gwu DOT edu (Michael Feldman)
Newsgroups:	comp.lang.ada,comp.edu,comp.software-eng,comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	New Release of Free Ada 95 Compiler and Tools for DOS
Date:	4 Jun 1996 00:34:13 -0400
Organization:	George Washington University
Lines:	192
Message-ID:	<4p0ec5$ol6@felix.seas.gwu.edu>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	128.164.9.3
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

Fifth Release of ez2load Ada 95 Compiler and Tutorial Kit for MS-DOS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
June 3, 1996
------------

Michael B. Feldman   (mfeldman AT seas DOT gwu DOT 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 fifth release of ez2load, an easy-install
kit of free Ada 95 compilers and editors, and a shareware tutorial for 
Ada 95.

This kit is intended for distribution on the July release of the 
Walnut Creek Ada CD-ROM, but it is equally useful as an ftp or 
diskette distribution. All components are freely distributable.

New in this release:
-------------------
- GNAT version 3.04 for MS-DOS is now included. This is a _full_ Ada 95
  compiler and binder and now supports tasking. Version 3.04 depends
  on djgpp version 2, which is a much improved GCC for DOS providing
  much more robust virtual memory management.

- Improved and extended versions of the AdaCAPS (DOS) and AdaIDE
  (Windows 3.1) editor/development environments.

- A very nice Ada 95 VGA Graphics package by Jerry van Dijk.

- 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.

- GW-Ada/Ed, the Ada 83 compiler/interpreter, is no longer a part of
  the "official" distribution, because we want to concentrate on
  Ada 95 tools. GW-Ada/Ed will remain available in a subdirectory
  at the GW ftp site (see details below), and the GW installer will
  continue to provide an option to install GW-Ada/Ed correctly.

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

- GNAT (GNU Ada 95 Translator) for DOS, an Ada 95 compiler that runs
  under djgpp (GCC for DOS) and provides a complete implementation
  of Ada 95. A basic djgpp distribution is included in the kit and 
  installed along with GNAT. The initial version of GNAT was created 
  by a team at New York University. Subsequent development of the system 
  and ongoing support is provided by Ada Core Technologies. Report
  GNAT bugs to report AT gnat DOT 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, Pepperell, Mass, is the
  author of this very nice IDE, which has the "look-and-feel" of a
  Borland "Turbo" product.

- 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
  an automatic traceback in case of an unhandled exception.
  These commands are invoked by AdaCAPS but can also be run 
  from the DOS command line. Charles Kann and Mchael Feldman are the
  authors.

- 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.

- 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.

- VGAPack, a set of Ada 95 packages supporting VGA graphics.
  Jerry van Dijk is the author.

- 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.

- 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 Cordes.

- 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.

- 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.

  As mentioned above, GW-Ada/Ed is no longer an official part of
  ez2load, but will remain available if you wish to acquire it.
  If you acquire the GW-Ada/Ed files, the installer will install
  it for you properly.

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 in these directories:

ftp://ftp.gwu.edu/pub/ada/ez2load   (The George Washington University)
ftp://cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat/dos       (New York University)
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/languages/ada/compiler/ez2load
                                    (Public Ada Library)

as well as multiple sites that mirror the above.

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    - Info-Unzip, used to unzip distribution files.
                 (pkunzip will NOT unpack this distribution properly)
  README.DSK   - A readme file to explain how to use this distribution
                 to make a diskette distribution.

  adatutor.zip - Zip file containing adatutor.

  gnat3041.zip
  gnat3042.zip
  gnat3043.zip
  gnat3044.zip
  djgpp200.zip - Zip files containing djgpp and GNAT

  acaps215.zip - Zip file containing AdaCAPS and the GW-GNAT
                 support programs.

  drgen.zip    - separate zipfile containing DRGEN 

  adatui.zip   - separate zipfile containing AdaTUI

  vgapck04.zip - separate zipfile containing VGAPack

The following files are available in the subdirectory 
pub/ada/ez2load/gw-adaed:

  adaed1.zip
  adaed2.zip   - Zip files containing GW-Ada/Ed.

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 zipped distribution occupies just under 13 megabytes; the 
complete unpacked and installed distribution requires about 40 megabytes. 
To get an idea of the individual unpacked pieces, just download
ginstall.exe and install.scr and run ginstall. It will tell you
the approximate installed sizes of the various components.

You need an MS-DOS computer with an 80386 or better CPU; 4 megabytes 
minimum RAM, 8 mb preferred.

For a more detailed description of the package, please read
ez2load.doc, available in the ez2load directory.

Electronic Discussion Groups Regarding GNAT
-------------------------------------------
GNAT is discussed on comp.lang.ada. There is also a mailing list.
Subscribe by sending e-mail to listproc AT seas DOT gwu DOT edu with the
2-line message

subscribe gnatlist YourFirstName YourLastName
help

You can then post by sending e-mail to gnatlist AT seas DOT gwu DOT edu.

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