AARM95 - Foreword to this version of the Ada Reference Manual

The Ada Working Group ISO/IEC JTC1/SC 22/WG 9 is tasked by ISO with the work item to interpret and maintain the International Standard and to produce Technical Corrigenda, as appropriate. The technical work on the International Standard is performed by the Ada Rapporteur Group (ARG) of WG 9. In September 2000, WG 9 approved and forwarded Technical Corrigendum 1 to SC 22 for ISO approval, which was granted in February 2001.

The Technical Corrigendum lists the individual changes that need to be made to the text of the International Standard to correct errors, omissions or inconsistencies. Once approved, the corrections specified in Technical Corrigendum 1 will be part of the International Standard ISO/IEC 8652:1995(E).

When ISO publishes Technical Corrigendum 1, it is unlikely that ISO will also publish a document that merges the Technical Corrigendum changes into the text of the International Standard. However, ISO rules require that the project editor for the Technical Corrigendum be able to produce such a document on demand.

This version of the Ada Reference Manual is what the project editor would provide to ISO in response to such a request. It incorporates the changes specified in the Technical Corrigendum into the text of ISO/IEC 8652:1995(E). It should be understood that the publication of any ISO document involves changes in general format, boilerplate, headers, etc., as well as a review by professional editors that may introduce editorial changes to the text. This version of the Ada Reference Manual is therefore neither an official ISO document, nor a version guaranteed to be identical to an official ISO document, should ISO decide to reprint the International Standard incorporating an approved Technical Corrigendum. It is nevertheless a best effort to be as close as possible to the technical content of such an updated document. In the case of a conflict between this document and a Technical Corrigendum 1 approved by ISO (or between this document and the original 8652:1995 in the case of paragraphs not changed by Technical Corrigendum 1), the other documents contain the official text of the International Standard ISO/IEC 8652:1995(E).

As it is very inconvenient to have the Reference Manual for Ada specified in two documents, this consolidated version of the Ada Reference Manual is made available to the public.

This document has been revised with the corrections specified in Technical Corrigendum 1 (ISO/IEC 8652:1995/COR1:2000). In addition, additional annotations have been added and a variety of editorial errors have been corrected.

Changes to the original 8652:1995 can be identified by the version number /1 following the paragraph number. Paragraphs not so marked are unchanged by Technical Corrigendum 1 or editorial corrections. Paragraph numbers of unchanged paragraphs should be the same as in the original International Standard. Inserted text is indicated by underlining, and deleted text is indicated by strikethroughs. Where paragraphs are inserted, the paragraph numbers are of the form pp.nn, where pp is the number of the preceding paragraph, and nn is an insertion number. For instance, the first paragraph inserted after paragraph 8 is numbered 8.1, the second paragraph inserted is numbered 8.2, and so on. Deleted paragraphs are indicated by the text This paragraph was deleted. Deleted paragraphs include empty paragraphs that were numbered in the original Ada Reference Manual. Similar markings and numbering is used for changes to annotations.

The editor [R. Brukardt (USA)] would like to thank the many people whose hard work and assistance has made this revision possible.

Thanks go out to all of the members of the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 9 Ada Rapporteur Group, whose work on creating and editing the wording corrections was critical to the entire process. Especially valuable contributions came from the chairman of the ARG, E. Ploedereder (Germany), who kept the process moving; J. Barnes (UK) and K. Ishihata (Japan), whose extremely detailed reviews kept the editor on his toes; G. Dismukes (USA), M. Kamrad (USA), P. Leroy (France), S. Michell (Canada), T. Taft (USA), J. Tokar (USA), and other members too numerous to mention.

Special thanks go to R. Duff (USA) for his explanations of the previous system of formatting of these documents during the tedious conversion to more modern formats. Special thanks also go to the convener of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 9, J. Moore (USA), without whose help and support the corrigendum and this consolidated reference manual would not have been possible.