Developing object-oriented user interfaces in Ada with the X Window system

Abstract : The graphical user interface has been accepted as being one of the most important parts of user interactive software projects. Until recently, however, the design and implementation of such interfaces in Ada was a long and difficult process. A solution to this problem was found with the introduction of the X Window System in the mid 1980's. These C libraries make it relatively easy to construct sophisticated user interfaces. In the last couple of years, several organizations have developed bindings to, or implementations of, the X Window System software for use in Ada programs. This paper discusses these efforts in general and concentrates on two sets of bindings that were used in the development of a graphical user interfaces for a computer wargame.