A Fresh Take on DO-178C Software Reviews
The software review is an essential part of the evidence required for certification according to DO-178C. In this blog post we reflect on the objectives and challenges regarding DO-178C compliance.
by
Thomas Couderc
–
From Desert Dunes to Humanitarian Aid: Inside the Epic Journey of the 4L Trophy Rally
Back in February 2023, my friend David and I embarked on an exciting journey for a worthy cause. We finally got our old Renault 4l fully restored by ourselves and heard the engine revving for the first time one week before the departure.
by
Daniel King
–
Avoiding Vulnerabilities in Crypto Code with SPARK
Writing secure software in C is hard. It takes just one missed edge case to lead to a serious security vulnerability, and finding such edge cases is difficult. This blog post discusses a recent vulnerability in a popular SHA-3 library and how the same problems were avoided in my own SHA-3 library written in SPARK.
by
Fabien Chouteau
–
A design pattern for OOP in Ada
When I do Object Oriented Programming with Ada, I tend to follow a design pattern that makes it easier for me and hopefully also for people reading my code.
How Ada and SPARK Can Increase the Security of Your Software
There is a long-standing debate about which phase in the Software Development Life Cycle causes the most bugs: is it the specification phase or the coding phase? A recent study by NIST shows that, in the software industry at large, coding bugs are causing the majority of security issues. Choosing a safer language like Ada or SPARK is a critical component for reducing these vulnerabilities that result from simple mistakes. In a new freely available booklet, we explain how these languages and the associated toolsets can be used to increase the security of software.
by
Yannick Moy
–
Did SPARK 2014 Rethink Formal Methods?
David Parnas is a well-known researcher in formal methods, who famously contributed to the analysis of the shut-down software for the Darlington nuclear power plant and designed the specification method known as Parnas tables and the development method called Software Cost Reduction. In 2010, the magazine CACM asked him to identify what was preventing more widespread adoption of formal methods in industry, and in this article on Really Rethinking Formal Methods he listed 17 areas that needed rethinking. The same year, we started a project to recreate SPARK with new ideas and new technology, which lead to SPARK 2014 as it is today. Parnas's article influenced some critical design decisions. Six years later, it's interesting to see how the choices we made in SPARK 2014 address (or not) Parnas's concerns.
by
Yannick Moy
–
The Eight Reasons For Using SPARK
Based on our many years of experience with our customers using SPARK in their projects, we have come up with a list of eight objectives that are most commonly targeted when using SPARK. Most projects only target a few of them, but in theory one could try to achieve all of them with SPARK on a project. This list may be useful for those who want to assess if the SPARK technology can be of benefit in their context, and to existing SPARK users to compare their existing practice with what others do.
by
Martyn Pike
–
The latest Mixed Programming with Ada lectures at the AdaCore University
I recently joined AdaCore as a Technical Account Manager with an initial focus on the UK and Scandinavian regions, but for the last 12 months I've been busy working on the AdaCore University. The most recent addition to which is a course on Mixed Language Programming with Ada, and it includes lectures on the integration of Ada with C, C++ and Java. The course covers some advanced topics like mixed language object orientation, techniques for using Ada strong typing to combat known issue with C pointers and the pitfalls that are encountered when mixing native Ada code with Java at runtime. This course clearly demonstrates that Ada has strong support for integration with C, C++ and Java and it proves there are no technical barriers to its adoption in modern mixed language software systems.
by
Yannick Moy
–
Studies of Contracts in Practice
Two recent research papers focus on how program contracts are used in practice in open source projects, in three languages that support contracts (Eiffel obviously, Java with JML contracts and C# with Code Contracts). I'm reporting what I found interesting (and less so) in these two studies.
by
Yannick Moy
–
MISRA-C 2012 vs SPARK 2014, the Subset Matching Game
The MISRA C subset of C defines around 150 rules that restrict C programs for critical software development. Of these, 27 rules are classified as undecidable, which means that few MISRA C checkers (if any) will help checking those hardest rules. Here is how SPARK 2014 can help checking similar rules in Ada programs.