Network Resources

FTP Warning: Some items listed here are accessed through FTP. A possible substitute for FTP sessions is to use Ada-oriented CD-ROMs (higher bandwidth is usually more convenient :-).

Ada Software Repositories

The software repositories listed below offer a wealth of information. It may take some time to find what you are looking for (organization of information is more difficult than accumulation of data). Most so-called "repositories" are government-subsidized activities. This directory is not an endorsement of such repositories; we do NOT claim that they are in fact useful. Happy hunting.

---

PAL: The Public Ada Library

To use PAL, you may want to start by reading the Public Ada Library FAQ and then have a look at the PAL Catalog (mirror -- European mirror).

PAL is an open-access FTP repository (mirror -- European mirror).

---

AdaBasis

AdaBasis consists of about 560 MB public domain source code and documents, mainly taken from the Public Ada Library (PAL). The software has been classified and is presented in a hierarchical manner, separated in different application domains, and, for some domains, with an additional multi-faceted searching facility.

The intent is to provide students, teachers and researchers with a large collection of reusable Ada components and systems for use in language and software engineering courses.

AdaBasis was set up by the Programming Languages Group of the Institut für Informatik at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. They plan to enlarge the library in the future, and welcome free public domain contributions. For more informations or to make suggestions please contact adabasis@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de

---

ASR: The Ada Software Repository

(ex-SIMTEL, no longer funded) has been absorbed into PAL.

ASR is an open-access FTP repository (mirror).

---

ELSA: Electronic Library Services and Applications

The ELSA repository (previously known as AdaNET) is part of RBSE (Repository Based Software Engineering), a reuse project funded by NASA.

ELSA is not Ada specific, but most of the software is written in Ada; they have information on both Software Engineering and Ada.

In February 1996 the following constraint was dropped: "User registration is required" to access the software packages on ELSA.

---

SEI: The Software Engineering Institute

The SEI is a federally funded research and development center operated since 1984 by Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA, and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense through the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).

The SEI objective is to provide leadership in software engineering and in the transition of new software engineering technology into practice. The SEI Information Server provides:

1. information about the SEI and its activities to improve the state of practice of software engineering;
2. information about the ongoing research efforts of the ARPA Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office (SISTO);
3. an index of information relating to numerous software and computing topics; and
4. pointers to many other Internet resources.

The SEI provides material about Software Engineering in general and sometimes directly related to Ada in particular.

---

ASSET: The Asset Source for Software Engineering Technology

Some people do not consider this to be a software repository. Note that it isn't always clear whether components are in Ada or some other, one-letter language. Although a lot of obstacles had previously been erected in order to make the "assets" nearly inaccessible and/or useless, the situation seems to be improving.

ASSET provides access to a library catalog, with abstracts of individual reusable assets. It is funded by STARS (see below), coming out of DARPA. More information may be found in the ASSET FAQ.

---

STARS: The Software Technology for Adaptable, Reliable Systems Program

The STARS project (an ARPA sponsored program) wants to change today's software development paradigm to one which emphasizes a process-driven, domain-specific, reuse-based approach to software intensive systems (lots of "key" words).

You can find an overview of the STARS Program, newsletters, and technical papers. You will also see several ways to interact with the STARS Program, including registering for "Demo Days," subscribing to a newsletter, requesting program information, and sending comments.

---

COSMIC: The COmputer Software Management and Information Center

COSMIC is a NASA software repository, located at the University of Georgia since 1966. Some of their software is in Ada, as documented in their (huge, 600K) online catalog.

COSMIC has over 1,200 computer programs that were originally developed by NASA and its contractors for the U.S. space program. Software is available for a number of areas of interest including: artificial intelligence, computational fluid dynamics, finite element structural analysis, scientific visualization, thermal and fluid flow analysis, and many more.

Programs are priced on a cost-recovery basis and usually include source code. U.S. educational institutions are eligible for a substantial discount. Some programs are available to "domestic customers only" (i.e. U.S. residents).

Page last modified: 1998-02-10