STE100 Technical Names for adacovex

ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English (Section 1, “Words”) defines a controlled vocabulary. Most words in that vocabulary are standard STE words. Some concepts have no accurate standard STE word. For those concepts, the project approves a Technical Name (TN).

A Technical Name is a non-STE word that the project explicitly approves. The project approves it because no standard STE word describes the concept with the same precision. A TN has a single mandatory part of speech and a defined scope. The scope is restricted to the software domain of adacovex.

This page is the controlled list of Technical Names for adacovex. Writers of user documentation, API documentation, docstrings, and changelogs must use these terms as defined here. If you need a term that is not in this list, add it to the list first, then use it.

Categories for Ada Technical Names

Group the Technical Names by their structural role in the software domain. Each category has its own lexicon page:

  • Ada Language Constructs – specific language features that generic English words cannot replace without losing technical precision. For example, pragma, discriminant, rendezvous, task. Lexicon: Ada language constructs.

  • Proof and compliance terms – the verification, requirement, and standard concepts of the adacovex domain. For example, verification condition, high-level requirement, design assurance level. Lexicon: proof and compliance terms.

  • Tooling and workflow terms – the commands, flags, files, and artefacts of the tool. For example, subcommand, flag, badge, result cache. Lexicon: tooling and workflow terms.

  • Hardware and System Entities – physical components, buses, or microarchitectures that the Ada code interacts with. For example, CPU core. Lexicon: hardware and system entities.

  • Code Identifier Names – exact package, type, subtype, subprogram, tool, and file names as declared in the source code or used by the toolchain. For example, System.Storage_Elements, gnatprove, Alire. Lexicons: tools and files and reports and concepts.

  • Web Site Terms – what the online manual records about a reader, and what the dashboard serves on the local machine. For example, hosting provider, page view, search index. Lexicon: web site terms.

Required data fields for each entry

ASD-STE100 requires strict controls over how approved words are documented. Every Technical Name in this dictionary has all five fields:

Field

Description

Example

Approved Word (TN)

The exact word or identifier.

Pragma

Part of Speech

STE permits a word as only one part of speech (Noun, Verb, Modifier).

Noun

Approved Meaning / Definition

Clear, unambiguous definition restricted to the adacovex domain.

A compiler directive in the Ada programming language.

Non-Approved Alternatives

Terms that authors must NOT use instead of this TN.

Compiler directive, Annotation

Example Sentence

A compliant STE sentence demonstrating usage.

Add the pragma to the top of the package specification.

Key rules for Ada Technical Names

  • Nouns stay nouns. Technical Names are almost always approved as Nouns or Modifiers. Never approve a code action as a verb if a standard STE verb exists. For example, use the approved verb Calculate instead of creating a TN verb Compute.

  • Exact case matching. Treat Ada identifiers (Pascal_Case or UPPER_CASE) as literal Technical Names. Use the exact casing in documentation. This rule distinguishes language concepts from code entities.

  • No synonyms. If the project approves Task as a TN for an Ada concurrent execution unit, do not use words like Thread, Process, or Job for that concept.

  • One part of speech per word. A TN is a Noun or a Modifier, never both. When you need the action, use the standard STE verb that matches the noun form.

Standard entry template

### Technical Name: Task
- **Part of Speech:** Noun
- **Category:** Ada Language Construct
- **Definition:** A standalone unit of concurrent execution in Ada.
- **Approved Form:** Task (singular), Tasks (plural)
- **Do Not Use:** Thread, Process, Job, Execution Unit
- **Correct Example:** *The main **task** waits for the sensor **task** to finish.*
- **Incorrect Example:** *The main process waits for the sensor thread to complete.*