PHCpack originated from bundling programs to solve polynomial systems with symbolic-numeric and polyhedral methods. The core of PHCpack consists mainly of Ada code, with interfaces to C and Python. Its blackbox solver is accessible from various scientific software packages such as Macaulay2, Maple, MATLAB, Octave, and Sage.

The goal of the talk is to explain the application of software engineering principles and the role of Ada in the development of PHCpack.