Ada

Ada is a strongly typed programming language that enjoys widespread used within the embedded systems and safety-critical software industry. It was originally developed under contract to the United States Department of Defense, as part of a project to develop a single unified language meeting the safety and reliability requirements of the department's embedded systems projects.

The language was first standardized in 1983, and has since undergone multiple revisions. The latest version is Ada 2012. The language itself is defined by the ISO standard ISO/IEC 8652, and the Military standard MIL-STD-1815A. In 1991, the US Department of Defense mandated the use of Ada for all software, though exceptions to this rule were often granted. This mandate was effectively removed in 1997, as the DoD began to embrace 'commercial off the shelf' (COTS) technology. Similar requirements existed in other NATO countries for command and control systems, and Ada was the mandated or preferred language for defense-related applications in countries such as Sweden, Germany, and Canada.