The language of choice for new software systems delivered to ING is ANSI C (written according to the Starlink C Programming Standard, SGP/4). Because Fortran 77 is in such wide use within the astronomical community, the use of existing Fortran 77 software is acceptable if there is sufficient justification for its use (e.g. the existence of a large body of Fortran code which would otherwise need to be rewritten). Fortran source delivered to ING must conform to the guidelines presented in the Starlink Application Programming Standard, SGP/16. If an interlanguage interface needs to be written (e.g. to call a Fortran subroutine library from C), it must use the Starlink recommendations on C and Fortran Mixed Programming, SGP/5, and the interlanguage interface must be documented in the Detailed Design Document.
Operating system access and non-ANSI C Run-time Library calls must conform to the appropriate IEEE POSIX standard, where this has been implemented by the operating system vendor. If platform-specific code is necessary, this should be provided as platform specific modules and conditionally built. All platform-specific modules must be documented in the Detailed Design Document.
Object-oriented implementations of the C language, e.g. C++, are not currently acceptable as languages used for operational systems at ING.