Ada-Europe Workplan 2022

This document describes the principal lines of action that Ada-Europe proposes to carry out in the year 2022.

Ada-Europe may consider undertaking further actions as the need arises, as long as they conform to Ada-Europe’s charter, and pass the scrutiny of the Board for financial and programmatic viability.

Dissemination

Objectives:

To keep our membership abreast of events taking place and other matters of interest, which concern Ada, for publications, products, and standardization milestones and achievements.

Activities:

The Ada User Journal (AUJ), our quarterly magazine, run by our editorial team of volunteers, continues to be distributed to direct and indirect members, the latter via the Associate Member Organizations. The AUJ contains three main parts plus additional sections as the need or opportunity arises. The stable contents include a news digest, a calendar of selected events, and refereed technical articles emanating from Ada-Europe’s yearly conference, its satellite workshops, and other events and initiatives within our community at large.

The news section of the AUJ, after a short embargo period, is also donated for publication in the Ada Information Clearinghouse website (https://www.adaic.org/). The Ada-Europe website hosts the archive of the digital full version of all AUJ issues, starting from volume 22, issue 1 (March 2001), which are made publicly available with a one-year embargo period. Direct distribution of the digital version of current AUJ issues to members has been and will continue to be the primary means to mitigate any disruption in the printing and mailing process like those experienced in the recent pandemic period of the year 2020.

When the opportunity arises, Ada-Europe also supports the production of books and other publications that help promote the knowledge of Ada. Depending on the magnitude of the financial effort, Ada-Europe either arranges the production directly or else operates as a catalyst for the community interest and broker for purchase and delivery. One such opportunity is the approval of periodic revisions of the language standard, and the corresponding update of the language reference manual. One such event is expected to occur in the year 2022.

Conferences and Workshops

Objectives:

To continue to run its yearly international conference week series titled Ada-Europe International Conference on Reliable Software Technologies (AEiC). The conference comprises a scientific-journal track, an industrial track, vendor presentations, sponsor exhibitions, tutorials, and satellite workshops.

The 25th edition of the conference, originally due for 8-12 June 2020, in Santander, Spain, and disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic, will eventually be celebrated in the week of 7-11 June 2021 in a virtual mode, using a professional digital distribution platform, with a rich program and shorter sessions more suited for remote participation. In anticipation of return to normality by the end of the year 2021, Ghent, Belgium, remains the physical venue for the 2022 edition of the conference.

The celebration of the 20th edition of the International Real-Time Ada Workshop (IRTAW), originally scheduled for 1-3 April 2020, in Benicàssim, Spain and disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic, is currently on hold. This workplan assumes that one such event may take place, with institutional support from Ada-Europe, in the year 2022. The membership of Ada- Europe will be notified well in advance of that event if and when confirmed.

Activities:

Direct and indirect members of Ada-Europe will continue to receive a discount at Ada- Europe’s conferences. To assure the eligibility of that benefit, Associate Member Organizations notify Ada-Europe how many indirect members they have at the start of the membership year (1 April).

Owing to the effective loss of membership benefits in the year 2020 caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Ada-Europe decided to waive the membership fee for members who wished to renew their status for the year 2021. In a similar vein, Ada-Europe has also decided to waive the registration fee to AEiC 2021 to current members wishing to attend the conference.

The sponsoring of Open Access publication of the scientific-journal track of the yearly conference, inaugurated in 2019 and replicated in 2020 (even in the absence of a conference) and 2021, has proven successful at attracting contributions and increasing the visibility of our conference authors. Ada-Europe therefore decided to continue that model also in the year 2022. This measure provides effective support at consolidating the scientific part of the technical program of the yearly conference. The Board of Ada-Europe will investigate ways to ensure the financial sustainability of that effort in the long term.

International Liaison

Objectives:

To collaborate with ACM SIGAda, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 9, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 23, and other international organizations with a bearing on Ada, for initiatives that fit the charter of Ada-Europe.

Activities:

Work aimed at achieving a full merger between the Ada User Journal with SIGAda’s Ada Letters continues. It is expected that the process will be reinvigorated by the renewed Executive Committee of SIGAda, which will be inaugurated in July 2021. Ada-Europe continues to hold a category C organizational liaison with WG 9, which allows direct collaboration in the activities that pertain to the international standardization of the Ada programming language.

Ada-Europe also continues to assist WG 23 in the production and maintenance of the Adaspecific and SPARK-specific annexes to the core Technical Report that addresses the vulnerabilities of mainstream programming languages.

Grants

Objectives:

To support activities that promote the use of Ada, directly or indirectly, through discussion and dissemination of information.

Activities:

The covid-19 pandemic has prevented in-presence meetings of the WG 9, ARG, and WG 23 bodies in the years 2020 and 2021. In anticipation of a return to normality by the end of the year 2021, Ada-Europe will renew its offer of logistical support for the meetings of WG 9 and of the ARG that may be collocated with Ada-Europe’s 2022 conference.

When the need arises to produce periodic revisions, amendments or technical corrigenda of the official language specification, Ada-Europe joins forces with SIGAda and the Ada Resource Association to provide financial support for the corresponding editorial and publishing work. One such occasion will arise in the year 2022.

Ada-Europe continues to welcome applications for grants from other bodies and groups that wish to organize technical and scientific events with a bearing on Ada and its application domain. To obtain a grant of this kind, the proposed initiative shall take place in Europe or be organized in close cooperation with European organizations, shall promote the use of Ada, shall be run on a not-for-profit basis, and shall produce a report for publication in the Ada User Journal. Applications to this end shall be addressed to the President of Ada-Europe.

Support of Associate Members

Objectives:

To support associate member organizations in widening the reach of their national activities into the European Ada community.

Activities:

Ada-Europe always seeks and welcomes opportunities to collaborate with associate member organizations, for events and other initiatives of mutual interest.

Organizational Matters

Objectives:

To conduct the business of Ada-Europe so that it meets, in a cost-effective manner, the objectives specified in its yearly Workplan.

Activities:

Ada-Europe is run by a Board of volunteers, each elected for a two-year term of service by its constituency of direct and indirect members. To streamline operation for maximum efficacy, the Board members are assigned specific, non-overlapping, responsibilities. Accordingly, the cardinality of the Board matches the number of roles determined by the core, recurring elements of the yearly Workplan. To balance the need of specialization, which originates from experience in service, with the injection of fresh energy, the Board has instituted the role of interim member, recruited to the Board first as an observer, and, in due time, after scrutiny and mutual satisfaction, candidate to take a specific service role.

The Board conducts its business with utmost financial care, strictly within the bounds of the budget approved by the General Assembly. Under normal conditions, the Board meets twice per year in person, at the candidate venue of the Ada-Europe conference of the following year, in Q1 of the preceding year, and at the yearly conference. This practice, disrupted by the covid-19 pandemic in the year 2021, will resume in the year 2022. In addition to physical meetings, the Board holds monthly conference calls at all other periods of the year.

Ada-Europe’s financial balance continues to be solid, thanks to the generous support of its numerous sponsors, the successful arrangements of conference organizers, and the Board’s judicious execution of the yearly workplan. Such a situation has afforded the member-benefit initiatives taken in the year 2021. The Board of Ada-Europe continues to study ways to secure the solidity of the association’s financial balance in the long term.