Ada

views updated May 23 2018

Ada Trademark A programming language developed at the behest of the US Department of Defense for use in real-time systems containing embedded computers. The name commemorates Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, who assisted Charles Babbage and has some claim to be the world's first programmer.

The original version (now known as Ada 83) was designed by international competition, published in 1980, and adopted as an ANSI standard in 1983 and as an ISO standard in 1987. It incorporated ideas of modular programming, concurrent programming, and separate compilation to support the development of large programs. It also introduced the idea of a programming support environment (APSE) whereby program development tools are specified along with the language as an integral whole. However, the absence of agreement on specific tools has led to a number of different and incompatible support environments for Ada.

From 1986 use of Ada was made mandatory for US military applications (unless the contractor could show “good cause” for a waiver), and several European countries have followed suit.

The language was revised in the early 1990s (when it was called Ada 9x) and adopted by ISO in 1995; the new version is now known as Ada 95. In spite of differences in presentation, Ada 95 is virtually a superset of Ada 83, so almost all Ada-83 programs are valid Ada-95 programs. The core of Ada 95 includes facilities for object-oriented programming and facilities for synchronized access to shared data (protected objects). There are annexes for distributed systems, informations systems, real-time systems, systems programming, safety and security, numerics, and interfaces to other languages.

Ada

views updated May 23 2018

ADA

ADA , townlet in Vojvodina, Serbia, until 1920 in (Austro-) Hungary. Jews came there from German-speaking areas; they also spoke Yiddish and later Hungarian. They were allowed to settle in the late 17th century in order to repopulate the southern provinces devastated during the Turkish wars, but were forbidden to use Hebrew or Yiddish in official documents, testaments, and pinkasim. The first rabbis were Aaron Acker (d. 1837) and Jacob Heilprin. During the 1848–49 troubles, when Serbia sent volunteers to help the Slav populations in Hungary, a Serbian troop occupied Ada and took 60 Jews – including Rabbi Heilprin – to Senta where they were all murdered. Ada remained one of the dozen or so Orthodox communities along the Thissa River following the split between the Neologist majority and Orthodox minority in 1868/69. They maintained talmud torah schools and formed an Association of Orthodox Communities that worked in close cooperation with the Neologist Federation of Jewish Communties in Belgrade. The synagogue was built in 1896. In 1925 there were 452 Jews in Ada, but many left for bigger towns. During World War ii Ada was occupied by Hungary and a concentration camp was established there. Of its 350 Jews in 1940, only 59 remained after the war, when the community was temporarily reestablished. Most subsequently left for Israel.

[Zvi Loker (2nd ed.)]

ADA

views updated May 23 2018

ADA Chem. N-(2-acetamido)iminodiacetic acid
• Chem. acetone dicarboxylic acid
• Biochem., Med. adenosine deaminase (as in ADA deficiency)
• Agricultural Development Association
• (USA) Air Defense Agency
• Aluminium Development Association
• American Dental Association
• American Diabetes Association
• Americans for Democratic Action
• Chem. ammonium dihydrogen arsenate
• Association of Drainage Authorities
• Atomic Development Authority
• Australian Dental Association
• (or Ada; (ˈeɪdə)) Computing, indicating a programming language (after Ada Lovelace (1815–52), British mathematician)

ADA

views updated May 18 2018

ADA American Dietetic Association founded Cleveland, Ohio, 1917; web site http://webdietitians.org/Public/index.cfm