Conference announcements

Announcement

Ada-Belgium will hold its sixth annual General Assembly on Thursday, February 11, 1999, at the K.U.Leuven, Campus Arenberg III, Auditorium N, Celestijnenlaan 200, B-3001 Leuven (Heverlee), at 20:00.

The official convocation is available, also in PostScript format.

From 19:00 to 20:00 the General Assembly will be preceded by a technical presentation plus Q&A, by Jerry van Dijk, Ordina Finance, the Netherlands.

"A comparison of two 'free' Ada95 compilers for Win32"

Anyone wishing to learn or use Ada95 on one of the popular Microsoft Operating Systems has a free choice between the Aonix ObjectAda and the ACT GNAT toolsets. Making the right choice for your specific situation can be tough, since each toolset has its own unique qualities.

This presentation attempts to systematically compare both toolsets on four important aspects for making such a choice of a free compiler:

1. Integration of the toolset with the Win32 platform
2. The feature set offered
3. Code generated
4. Legal status

Based upon this data, some general advice about the applicability of each toolset for a number of domains is given.

Jerry van Dijk first learned Ada in 1984 when employed by the Dutch Ministry of Defence (Navy). For the last nine years he has worked extensively in the financial world, at most major Dutch and Belgium Banks. Most of his work is connected with improving the state of software development. Currently he is the Quality Manager for the ING's Dutch retail network. He is employed as a Business Consultant by Ordina Finance, with Software Process Improvement as his main interest.

Participation

Everyone interested is welcome at this meeting. The event is free.

If you are interested in attending the General Assembly or Jerry van Dijk's presentation, we would appreciate it if you could inform us. Although no formal registration is required, this helps us preparing the event.

All Ada-Belgium members have a vote at the General Assembly, can add items to the agenda, and can be a candidate for a position on the Board (see the convocation for more details).

If you have not yet renewed your affiliation, please do so by paying the appropriate fee before the General Assembly (1998-members receive also a printed request via normal mail). If you are interested to become a new member, please register by filling out the 1999 membership application form and by paying the appropriate fee before the General Assembly. Early renewal or registration ensures you receive the full Ada-Belgium membership benefits (including the Ada-Europe indirect membership benefits package).

We still have a limited number of documentation sets available that were distributed freely at the Ada-Belgium'98 Seminar. Each set includes a.o. the Seminar Proceedings, the latest Walnut Creek double "Ada and Software Engineering" CD-ROM (a special edition for SIGAda'98 and Ada-Belgium'98), and the promotional Jazz-music CD offered by Aonix. These sets will be available on a first-come first-serve basis at the General Assembly for current Ada-Belgium members who couldn't attend last December.
Please inform me via e-mail if you are interested in receiving the free documentation set and/or a CD and/or CD-ROMs, so I can bring enough copies with me.

Directions

An access plan to the Department of Computer Science at the K.U.Leuven is available. Note that the dept. is in building A, which is close to auditorium N: a detailed view of Campus Arenberg III is available on the K.U.Leuven Campus Map.

Looking forward to meet many of you in Leuven.

Dirk Craeynest
Ada-Belgium Board
ada-belgium-board@cs.kuleuven.ac.be

To the Ada-Belgium home page.

Last update: 1999/02/08.