Using JavaTM APIs with Native Ada Compilers

Ada is an ISO standard Object Oriented programming language specifically designed to support the cost effective development of robust, maintainable software. Because of this, Ada is widely used in the development of critical systems such as commercial aircraft. However, despite its advantages and general purpose nature, Ada is not often used for the development of main stream applications. This is partly because of Ada’s poor integration with contemporary technologies such as Graphical User Interfaces. Described within this paper is a technique which uses the Java Native Interface to provide Ada programmers with immediate access to any software that has a Java API, thus substantially improving the suitability of Ada for the development of a wide range of applications.