Ada is a programming language that has been designed to support the construction of long-lived, software systems, where correctness, safety, and reliability are the prime goals. A large part of Ada's appeal is in its ease of use and in its versatility in working with programs written in other operating languages. For example, Ada can be used as a gateway to the more difficult C language; despite differing syntax, the two languages share many similarities, which enable their linkage.

Ada's roots are in two computer languages developed in the 1950s—FORTRAN and ALGOL. The latter is very important in the history of several computer languages used today, including Ada. The genesis of Ada was the United States Department of Defense (DOD). In the 1960s and 1970s, DOD sought a solution to the plethora of computer languages it was using. Over 2,000 different languages were in use and a...