Experiences with CMS2-to-Ada translation tools

Abstract

This paper describes experiences with three CMS-2 to Ada language translators. It describes the evolution of an effort whose initial goal was trial usage of a single translator, into an effort which ultimately used three translators and made some comparisons of their outputs. The following points represent key findings and conclusions from these experiences. All three of the translator tools successfully generated Ada source code. However, further evaluations would be beneficial. Translation will be useful to systems and software engineers as a part of an overall transition scheme. This paper describes experiences by personnel from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) and their support contractor CSC. The work was supported by the organizations that developed the translators: Computer Command and Control Company (CCCC), Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), and the Navy Command, Control, and Ocean Surveillance Center (NCCOSC) Research and Development Division (NRaD). Translator operation data were collected and reviewed to develop conclusions and recommendations for further development of CMS-2-to-Ada translation technology. Two of the translators (those from CCCC and NRaD) were installed at NSWCDD and operated by NSWCDD and CSC. The third translator was operated in its native environment at JHU/APL. All three of the translators were used to translate the same segment of operational CMS-2 code—a weapons selection function.