The Ada 95 Rationale describes the overall scope and objectives of Ada 95 and its main technical features. Read part I before you attempt to read the Ada 95 Reference Manual. Parts II and III should be read in conjunction with the Ada 95 Reference Manual.
Part II gives the rationale for the core language, including alternatives that were considered and rejected. Part III describes the material in the annexes; this includes the predefined, mandatory environment, as well as the specialized, optional annexes.
Finally, part IV summarizes a few significant incompatibilities between Ada 83 and Ada 95, changes of the Ada 9X drafts through the review period, and a mapping between the original 9X Requirements and sections of the Rationale.
The Rationale of the revised Ada standard was released at version 6.0 (in synchronization with the revised standard itself). There are several electronic formats of the new rationale.
The hypertext versions, paper editions, and Postscript files of the Rationale can be obtained in the same way as for the Reference Manual.
Page last modified: 1998-01-21