Incorporating Cyclic Task Behaviour into Ada Tasks

Abstract

While Ada incorporates comprehensive support for real-time systems, it is missing a common programming abstraction used in the design of these systems: cyclic tasks. Without the abstraction, users resort to solutions that introduce unnecessary complexity into their programs -- making it harder to read and write what should be a simple primitive. The omission of a cyclic task abstraction appears due to an aversion to implementing a too higher-level abstraction within Ada, and the perceived complexity and limitations brought to the language as a result. This paper will demonstrate the aversion is unwarranted and present an extension to Ada's existing task type to provide support for a cyclic task abstraction. The extension will show an emphasis on clarity, structure and implementability, while minimising the impact on the existing language.