Ada runtime environment working group—a framework for describing Ada runtime environment

Abstract

The concept of a runtime environment to support program execution has always been associated with application software - it has only been with programming languages like Ada that the concept has become more apparent and significant to application effectiveness. The purpose of this paper is to explain the basic elements of Ada runtime environments in order to support the presentation of ARTEWG documents, such as the Catalogue of Runtime Implementation Dependencies. Additionally, this paper may be useful as a framework (or common vocabulary) for buyers and builders of Ada runtime environments to discuss details of Ada runtime environments.The paper begins with a historical perspective on runtime environments to show how the technology evolved to the current state exhibited by Ada runtime environments. This leads into a proposed framework for describing runtime environments, including a taxonomy. A concise and consistent set of terms, which are summarized in a glossary, explains different elements of Ada runtime environments.