B.1 Interfacing Aspects
aspect is a representation aspect that is one of
the aspects Import, Export, Link_Name, External_Name, or Convention.
Specifying the Import aspect
to have the value True is used to import an entity defined in a foreign
language into an Ada program, thus allowing a foreign-language subprogram
to be called from Ada, or a foreign-language variable to be accessed
from Ada. In contrast,
the Export aspect to have the value True is used to export an Ada entity
to a foreign language, thus allowing an Ada subprogram to be called from
a foreign language, or an Ada object to be accessed from a foreign language.
The Import and Export aspects are intended primarily for objects and
subprograms, although implementations are allowed to support other entities.
The Link_Name and External_Name aspects are used to specify the link
name and external name, respectively, to be used to identify imported
or exported entities in the external environment.
Aspect Description for Import: Entity
is imported from another language.
Aspect Description for Export: Entity
is exported to another language.
Aspect Description for External_Name:
Name used to identify an imported or exported entity.
Aspect Description for Link_Name:
Linker symbol used to identify an imported or exported entity.
The Convention aspect
to indicate that an Ada entity should use the conventions of another
language. It is intended primarily for types and “callback”
subprograms. For example, “with
Convention => Fortran”
on the declaration of an array type Matrix implies that Matrix should
be represented according to the conventions of the supported Fortran
implementation, namely column-major order.
Aspect Description for Convention:
Calling convention or other convention used for interfacing to other
Linker_Options is used to specify the system linker parameters needed
when a given compilation unit is included in a partition.
Name Resolution Rules
The Import and Export aspects are of type Boolean.
The Link_Name and External_Name aspects are of type String.
There is no language-defined
support for external or link names of type Wide_String, or of other string
types. Implementations may, of course, have additional aspects for that
purpose. Note that allowing both String and Wide_String in the same aspect_definition
would cause ambiguities.
The aspect Convention shall be specified by a convention_identifier
which shall be the name of a convention
. The convention names
are implementation defined, except for certain language-defined ones,
such as Ada and Intrinsic, as explained in 6.3.1
convention names generally represent the calling conventions of foreign
languages, language implementations, or specific run-time models.]
convention of a callable entity is its calling convention
Implementation defined: Implementation-defined
We considered representing
the convention names using an enumeration type declared in System. Then,
would be changed to convention_name
and we would make its expected type be the enumeration type. We didn't
do this because it seems to introduce extra complexity, and because the
list of available languages is better represented as the list of children
of package Interfaces — a more open-ended sort of list.
is a convention_identifier
for a language, then a type T is said to be compatible with convention
, (alternatively, is said to be an L-compatible type
any of the following conditions are met:
T is declared in a language interface package corresponding
and is defined to be L
-compatible (see B.3
has been specified for T, and
T is eligible for convention L
; that is:
T is an enumeration type such that all internal
codes (whether assigned by default or explicitly) are within an implementation-defined
range that includes at least the range of values 0 .. 2**15–1;
T is an array type with either an
unconstrained or statically-constrained first subtype, and its component
type is L-compatible,
T is a record type that has no discriminants
and that only has components with statically-constrained subtypes, and
each component type is L-compatible,
T is an access-to-object type, its designated type is L
and its designated subtype is not an unconstrained array subtype,
T is an access-to-subprogram type,
and its designated profile's parameter and result types are all L-compatible.
T is derived from an L-compatible type,
T is an anonymous access type, and T is eligible
for convention L,
Reason: We say
this so that the presence of an anonymous access component does not necessarily
prevent a type from being eligible for convention L. We want the
anonymous access type to take the convention from the enclosing type,
but if we only said that, the definition would be circular (one can only
portably apply the convention L to a record type R if the components
of R already have convention L; but the anonymous components of
R have to take the convention from R). We include the part of about T
being eligible for convention L so that we don't force convention
L on some type that is incompatible with it.
The implementation permits T as an L-compatible
Discussion: For example, an implementation
might permit Integer as a C-compatible type, though the C type to which
it corresponds might be different in different environments.
If the Convention aspect is specified for a type, then the type shall
either be compatible with or eligible for the specified convention.
If a type is derived from an L
-compatible type, the derived type
is by default L
-compatible, but it is also permitted to specify
the Convention aspect for the derived type.
It is permitted to specify the Convention aspect for an incomplete type,
but in the complete declaration each component must be L
If each component of a record type is L
-compatible, then the record
type itself is only L
-compatible if it has a specified Convention.
If convention L is specified for a type
T, for each component of T that has an anonymous access type, the convention
of the anonymous access type is L. If convention L is specified
for an object that has an anonymous access type, the convention of the
anonymous access type is L.
applies to both anonymous access-to-object and anonymous access-to-subprogram
Notwithstanding any rule to the contrary, a declaration
with a True Import aspect shall not have a completion.
For declarations of deferred constants and subprograms, we explicitly
mention that no completion is allowed when aspect Import is True. For
other declarations that require completions, we ignore the possibility
of the aspect Import being True. Nevertheless, if an implementation chooses
to allow specifying aspect Import to be True for the declaration of a
task, protected type, incomplete type, private type, etc., it may do
so, and the normal completion is then not allowed for that declaration.
An entity with a True Import
aspect (or Export aspect) is said to be imported
). An entity shall not be both imported and exported.
The declaration of an imported object shall not include
an explicit initialization expression. [Default initializations are not
Proof: This follows from the “Notwithstanding
...” wording in the Dynamics Semantics paragraphs below.
The type of an imported or exported object shall be compatible with the
specified Convention aspect, if any.
Ramification: This implies, for example,
that importing an Integer object might be illegal, whereas importing
an object of type Interfaces.C.int would be permitted.
For an imported or exported subprogram, the result and parameter types
shall each be compatible with the specified Convention aspect, if any.
(if any) used to directly specify an Import, Export, External_Name, or
Link_Name aspect shall be a static expression. The string_expression
of a pragma
Linker_Options shall be static. An External_Name or Link_Name aspect
shall be specified only for an entity that is either imported or exported.
Paragraphs 28 and
29 were deleted.
The Convention aspect represents the calling convention or representation
convention of the entity. For an access-to-subprogram type, it represents
the calling convention of designated subprograms. In addition:
A True Import aspect indicates that the entity
is defined externally (that is, outside the Ada program). This aspect
is never inherited; if not directly specified, the Import aspect is False.
A True Export aspect indicates that the entity
is used externally. This aspect is never inherited; if not directly specified,
the Export aspect is False.
For an entity with a True Import or Export aspect,
an external name, link name, or both may also be specified.
An external name
string value for the name used by a foreign language program either for
an entity that an Ada program imports, or for referring to an entity
that an Ada program exports.
A link name
is a string
value for the name of an exported or imported entity, based on the conventions
of the foreign language's compiler in interfacing with the system's linker
The meaning of link names is implementation defined.
If neither a link name nor the Address attribute of an imported or exported
entity is specified, then a link name is chosen in an implementation-defined
manner, based on the external name if one is specified.
Implementation defined: The meaning of
Ramification: For example, an implementation
might always prepend "_", and then pass it to the system linker.
Implementation defined: The manner of
choosing link names when neither the link name nor the address of an
imported or exported entity is specified.
Ramification: Normally, this will be
the entity's defining name, or some simple transformation thereof.
Pragma Linker_Options has the effect of passing its
string argument as a parameter to the system linker (if one exists),
if the immediately enclosing compilation unit is included in the partition
being linked. The interpretation of the string argument, and the way
in which the string arguments from multiple Linker_Options pragmas are
combined, is implementation defined.
Implementation defined: The effect of
Notwithstanding what this International
Standard says elsewhere, the elaboration of a declaration with a True
Import aspect does not create the entity. Such an elaboration has no
other effect than to allow the defining name to denote the external entity.
Ramification: This implies that default
initializations are skipped. (Explicit initializations are illegal.)
For example, an imported access object is not initialized to null.
This “notwithstanding” wording is better than saying “unless
aspect Import is True” on every definition of elaboration. It says
we recognize the contradiction, and this rule takes precedence.
It is the programmer's responsibility to ensure that
the use of interfacing aspects does not violate Ada semantics; otherwise,
program execution is erroneous. For example, passing
an object with mode in to imported code that modifies it causes
erroneous execution. Similarly, calling an imported subprogram that is
not pure from a pure package causes erroneous execution.
If an implementation supports Export for a given language, then it should
also allow the main subprogram to be written in that language. It should
support some mechanism for invoking the elaboration of the Ada library
units included in the system, and for invoking the finalization of the
environment task. On typical systems, the recommended mechanism is to
provide two subprograms whose link names are "adainit" and
"adafinal". Adainit should contain the elaboration code for
library units. Adafinal should contain the finalization code. These subprograms
should have no effect the second and subsequent time they are called.
Implementation Advice: If Export is
supported for a language, the main program should be able to be written
in that language. Subprograms named "adainit" and "adafinal"
should be provided for elaboration and finalization of the environment
Ramification: For example, if the main
subprogram is written in C, it can call adainit before the first call
to an Ada subprogram, and adafinal after the last.
Automatic elaboration of preelaborated packages should be provided when
specifying the Export aspect as True is supported.
Implementation Advice: Automatic elaboration
of preelaborated packages should be provided when specifying the Export
aspect as True is supported.
For each supported convention L
other than Intrinsic, an implementation
should support specifying the Import and Export aspects for objects of
-compatible types and for subprograms, and the Convention aspect
-eligible types and for subprograms, presuming the other
language has corresponding features. Specifying the Convention aspect
need not be supported for scalar types, other than
enumeration types whose internal codes fall within the range 0 .. 2**15–1
Implementation Advice: For each supported
convention L other than Intrinsic, specifying the aspects Import
and Export should be supported for objects of L-compatible types
and for subprograms, and aspect Convention should be supported for L-eligible
types and for subprograms.
Specifying aspect Convention is not necessary for scalar types, since
the language interface packages declare scalar types corresponding to
those provided by the respective foreign languages.
If an implementation supports interfacing to the C++ entities not supported
, it should do so via the convention
identifier C_Plus_Plus (in additional to any C++-implementation-specific
The reason for giving the advice about C++ is to encourage uniformity
among implementations, given that the name of the language is not syntactically
legal as an identifier
Implementations may place restrictions on interfacing aspects; for example,
requiring each exported entity to be declared at the library level.
Arbitrary restrictions are allowed
Ramification: Such a restriction might
be to disallow them altogether. Alternatively, the implementation might
allow them only for certain kinds of entities, or only for certain conventions.
The Convention aspect in combination with the Import aspect indicates
the conventions for accessing external entities. It is possible that
the actual entity is written in assembly language, but reflects the conventions
of a particular language. For example, with Convention =>
can be used to interface to an assembly language routine that
obeys the Ada compiler's calling conventions.
To obtain “call-back” to an Ada subprogram from a foreign
language environment, the Convention aspect should be specified both
for the access-to-subprogram type and the specific subprogram(s) to which
'Access is applied.
Paragraphs 45 and
46 were deleted.
The Intrinsic convention (see 6.3.1
that the entity is somehow “built in” to the implementation.
Thus, it generally does not make sense for users to specify Intrinsic
along with specifying that the entity is imported. The intention is that
only implementations will specify Intrinsic for an imported entity. The
language also defines certain subprograms to be Intrinsic.
There are many imaginable interfacing aspects that don't make any sense.
For example, setting the Convention of a protected procedure to Ada is
probably wrong. Rather than enumerating all such cases, however, we leave
it up to implementations to decide what is sensible.
If both External_Name and Link_Name are specified for a given entity,
then the External_Name is ignored.
Sqrt (X : Float) return
Import => True, Convention => Fortran;
Matrix is array
<>, Natural range
Convention => Fortran;
Invert (M : Matrix) return
Import => True, Convention => Fortran;
Extensions to Ada 83
Interfacing pragmas are
new to Ada 95. Pragma Import replaces Ada 83's pragma Interface. Existing
implementations can continue to support pragma Interface for upward compatibility.
Wording Changes from Ada 95
Clarified that pragma
Import and Export work like a subprogram call; parameters cannot be omitted
unless named notation is used. (Reordering is still not permitted, however.)
Added wording to say all bets are off if foreign code doesn't follow
the semantics promised by the Ada specifications.
Incompatibilities With Ada 2005
Access types that designate unconstrained
arrays are no longer defined to be L
-compatible. Such access-to-arrays
require bounds information, which is likely to be incompatible with a
foreign language. The change will allow (but not require) compilers to
reject bad uses, which probably will not work anyway. Note that implementations
can still support any type that it wants as L
uses will not be portable, however. As such, there should be little existing
code that will be impacted (compilers probably already rejected cases
that could not be translated, whether or not the language allowed doing
Extensions to Ada 2005
Aspects Convention, Import, Export, Link_Name, and
External_Name are new; pragma
Convention, Import, and Export are now obsolescent.
Incompatibilities With Ada 2012
Correction: The convention
of anonymous access components is that of the enclosing type (in Ada
2012, it was Ada). Similarly, the convention of the anonymous access
type of an object is that of the object (again, in Ada 2012 it was Ada).
While this is formally incompatible, it should be more useful in portable
code; it makes little sense to have a component of an Ada access type
in a record with a C convention. For most implementations, this will
have no real effect as convention Ada anonymous access types were allowed
as C-compatible anyway. But such code was not portable, as this was not
required in Ada 2012.
Extensions to Ada 2012
Corrigendum: Added a
suggestion that convention be supported for enumeration types. This will
make the use of enumeration types portable for implementations that support
interfacing to a particular language.
Wording Changes from Ada 2012
Correction: Added some examples to the erroneous
execution text; this is a very important rule as it means that Ada compilers
can assume that provided interfacing declarations reflect the actual
Ada 2005 and 2012 Editions sponsored in part by Ada-Europe