Xref: news2.mv.net comp.edu:6120 comp.lang.ada:21675 comp.os.msdos.djgpp:5066 comp.software-eng:17941 From: mfeldman AT seas DOT gwu DOT edu (Michael Feldman) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.edu,comp.os.msdos.djgpp,comp.software-eng Subject: New Release of Free Ada 95 Compiler/Tool Kit for DOS Date: 16 Jun 1996 19:57:38 -0400 Organization: George Washington University Lines: 208 Message-ID: <4q271i$gag@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 Sixth Release of ez2load Ada 95 Compiler and Tutorial Kit for MS-DOS -------------------------------------------------------------------- June 16, 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 sixth 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 3.05 for MS-DOS is now included. This is a _full_ Ada 95 compiler and binder and now supports tasking. Version 3.05 depends on djgpp version 2, which is a much improved GCC for DOS providing much more robust virtual memory management. GNAT 3.05 can be seen as a maintenance update to GNAT 3.04. It fixes bugs but does not add functionality. The installer script (install.scr) is updated to reflect this change. - Improved and extended versions of the AdaCAPS (DOS) and AdaIDE (Windows 3.1) editor/development environments. If you picked up acaps215.zip from the fifth release (with GNAT 3.04) nothing has changed in AdaCAPS except the version-number references in the documentation. However, the AdaIDE is a new version, adaide24.zip. - A very nice Ada 95 VGA Graphics package (vgapck05.zip) by Jerry van Dijk. This is an update to vgapck04.zip, and includes several nice demo programs, including one that draws a Mandelbrot set. - Copies of several main user manuals are in the directory as separate documents: ez2load.doc, adacaps.doc, and adaide24.txt. The next two items were included in the fifth release; nothing new. ------------------------------------------------------------------ - 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. gnat3051.zip gnat3052.zip gnat3053.zip gnat3054.zip djgpp200.zip - Zip files containing djgpp and GNAT acaps215.zip - Zip file containing AdaCAPS and the GW-GNAT support programs. adaide24.zip - Zip file containing AdaIDE 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.