A standard relational database interface for the Ada programming language is presented. By accessing databases through this standard interface, Ada programs may be written in a consistent and transportable fashion, regardless of which underlying database management system (DBMS) ultimately provides actual database support. The Data Definition Language (DDL) serves three purposes, with all transformations automated to ensure consistency across uses: (1) it is standard Ada, so that data types defined therein may be "with'ed" into application programs, (2) it may be transformed into the DDL required by an underlying DBMS to define an application's database, and (3) it contains augmented information that enables it to be used to generate test data. The Data Manipulation Language (DML), while being standard Ada, is also as similar to SQL as permitted by Ada syntax, to provide all the power and flexibility of the language proposed as the ANSI relational standard. Major portions of the system described have actually been implemented on a prototype basis to prove the feasibility of the approach.

Purpose. This paper defines a layered functional architecture that is useful for describing interfaces (data or parameter exchanges) between Ada and Data Management Systems (DMS). It uses this architecture in discussing potential approaches to implementating standard interfaces between Ada and both relational and CODASYL DMSs.