Why should an automated conversion tool first compile the Ada code?

For any automated conversion method you will require that the Ada source code be compilable by the tool. Unless you can compile Ada source code, there is really no way to know what it is doing. For example, in Ada, something as simple as "F(X)" can mean about five different things, such as calling a function called F, indexing into an array called F, converting to the type called F, calling a function called F which returns a pointer to an array, and then indexing into that, or selecting the "X"th dimension of a multi-dimensional array F. So unless you can compile the code, there is no way to properly translate "F(X)" into C or C++, because without compiling, the tool won't know what is the exact meaning of "F" nor the exact meaning of "X," both of which can affect what is the proper translation for "F(X)". Therefore, our tool first compiles the code before it will start the translation so that you know the outputted code will compile and run. Assuming that Ada libraries are available in source code format, Ada-C/C++ Changer can be easily configured to support various Ada compiler code generation formats. We also provide GNAT compatibility to assist in moving from GNAT compiler. Our tool supports variety of host platforms and also handles various re-hosting scenarios.