Language Changes

1. This International Standard replaces the first edition of 1987. In this edition, the following major language changes have been incorporated:
   1. Support for standard 8-bit and 16-bit character sets. See section 2 Lexical Elements, See section 3.5.2 Character Types, See section 3.6.3 String Types, See section A.1 The Package Standard, See section A.3 Character Handling, and See section A.4 String Handling.
   2. Object-oriented programming with run-time polymorphism. See the discussions of classes, derived types, tagged types, record extensions, and private extensions in clauses See section 3.4 Derived Types and Classes, See section 3.9 Tagged Types and Type Extensions, and See section 7.3 Private Types and Private Extensions. See also the new forms of generic formal parameters that are allowed by See section 12.5.1 Formal Private and Derived Types, and See section 12.7 Formal Packages.
   3. Access types have been extended to allow an access value to designate a subprogram or an object declared by an object declaration (as opposed to just a heap-allocated object). See section 3.10 Access Types.
   4. Efficient data-oriented synchronization is provided via protected types. See section 9 Tasks and Synchronization.
   5. The library units of a library may be organized into a hierarchy of parent and child units. See section 10 Program Structure and Compilation Issues.
   6. Additional support has been added for interfacing to other languages. See section B Interface to Other Languages (normative).
   7. The Specialized Needs Annexes have been added to provide specific support for certain application areas:
      1. Annex C, "Systems Programming"
      2. Annex D, "Real-Time Systems"
      3. Annex E, "Distributed Systems"
      4. Annex F, "Information Systems"
      5. Annex G, "Numerics"
      6. Annex H, "Safety and Security"

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