A FEASIBILITY AND COST/BENEFIT MODEL FOR ASSEMBLER CONVERSION TO ADA

DOD GUIDELINES DIRECTING THE USE OF ADA AS THE GOVERNMENT STANDARD PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE WILL RESULT IN MANY EXISTING IMPLEMENTATIONS GRADUALLY BEING CONVERTED TO ADA. AS SOFTWARE UPDATES AND HARDWARE ENHANCEMENTS ARE MADE, SINGLE FUNCTIONS MAY BE IMPLEMENTED IN ADA TO EXPLOIT THE LANGUAGE'S MAINTAINABILITY AND PORTABILITY. THIS WILL REQUIRE INTERLANGUAGE INTERFACING, DATA SHARING AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATION OF MEMORY AND THROUGHPUT UTILIZATION. TO EVALUATE NOT ONLY THE IMPACT OF SUCH A TRANSITION BUT ALSO THE VERY FEASIBILITY, OTI IS PROPOSING A FEASIBILITY STUDY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COST/BENEFIT MODEL. ADDITIONALLY, IF THE TRANSITION PROVES FEASIBLE, PHASE II WILL INCLUDE A METHODOLOGY TO CODE AND INTEGRATE NEW ADA MODULES WITH THE EXISTING ENVIRONMENT. THE FEASIBILITY DETERMINATION WILL CONSIDER SUCH FACTORS AS THE CURRENT ASSEMBLER, THE PROPOSED COMPILER, SYSTEM MODULARITY AND MODULE CONNECTIVITY. SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS INCLUDE THE IMPACT ON MEMORY CONSUMPTION AND THE ABILITY OF THE ADA CODE TO MEET REAL TIME REQUIREMENTS. DUE TO THE RESOURCE EXPENDITURE WHICH WILL BE REQUIRED FOR A PIECEMEAL CONVERSION FROM ASSEMBLY CODE TO ADA, A RELIABLE MEANS OF DETERMINING THE FEASIBILITY AND COST OF SUCH AN EFFORT IS REQUIRED.