This overview of Ada 2012 should have given the reader an appreciation of the important new features in Ada 2012. Some quite promising features failed to be included partly because the need for them was not clear and also because a conclusive design proved elusive.

The remaining chapters will expand on the six major topics of this overview in more detail.

It is worth briefly reviewing the guidelines (see Section 1.2 above) to see whether Ada 2012 meets them.

The group a) items were about extending the advantages of Ada and specifically mentioned containers, contracts and real-time. There are many new features for containers, pre- and postconditions have been added and so have facilities for multiprocessors.

The group b) items were about eliminating shortcomings, increasing safety and particularly mentioned improvements to access types and storage management. This has been achieved with corrections to accessibility checks, the introduction of subpools and so on.

It seems clear from this brief check that indeed Ada 2012 does meet the objectives set for it.

Finally, I need to thank all those who have helped in the preparation of this Rationale and especially Randy Brukardt, Ed Schonberg and Tucker Taft.

© 2011, 2012, 2013 John Barnes Informatics.

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