What is Ada-Europe?

Ada-Europe is an international organization, set up to promote the use of Ada. It aims to spread the use and the knowledge of Ada and to promote its introduction into academic and research establishments. Above all, Ada-Europe intends to represent European interests in Ada and Ada-related matters.

In its current form, Ada-Europe was established in 1988. As there is no European legal framework to govern such organizations, it was established according to Belgian Law. Currently, the member organizations are: Ada-Belgium, Ada-Denmark, Ada-Deutschland, Ada-France, Ada-Spain, and Ada-Switzerland.

Individual members of these organizations can become indirect members of Ada-Europe. Direct membership is available to individuals in countries without national member organization. At the moment, Ada-Europe has about 300 members from all membership categories.

Ada-Europe is chaired by a Board, elected at the annual General Assembly of Ada-Europe.

What does Ada-Europe do?

The best-known of Ada-Europe's activities is its annual conference. These conferences usually attract 100 to 150 participants. They involve three days of lectures and presentations, and provide the perfect opportunity to discuss new information and exchange experiences with fellow Ada users. As well as the usual conference features, you have the opportunity to attend an additional two days of tutorials dealing with specialist Ada matters. The conference also hosts an exhibition, where Ada-related products are presented.

Ada-Europe offers a framework for setting up working groups and task groups to discuss and investigate technical aspects of using Ada on a European basis. It provides grants for Ada-related conferences and activities.

Ada-Europe maintains a WWW-Server at www.ada-europe.org, containing information about its activities and useful links to a wealth of Ada-related information.

The members of Ada-Europe receive the quarterly Ada User Journal, produced by Ada-Europe. This journal contains Ada-related papers, experience reports, details of past, present and future Ada events and activities, and reviews of new publications and products. The journal is usually distributed via the national member organizations, but can also be mailed directly at additional postage costs.

A reduced registration fee at the annual Ada-Europe conference is an additional benefit to direct and indirect members registered with Ada-Europe by their national organizations. On a semi-regular basis, Ada-Europe "surprises" its individual members with useful material: In 2006 for example, the then recently published Ada 2005 Reference Manual was such a surprise benefit of Ada-Europe membership.

To join Ada-Europe as an indirect member, please contact the national organization in your country.