In this talk I want to open a window into the wonderful world of "alternative" programming languages for RISC-V. What can you get by looking beyond C/C++.

So I will start with a quick introduction to the Ada and SPARK languages, the benefits, the hurdles. I will also present an overview of the applications and domains where they shine, when failure is not an option.

I will then do a short getting started session and provide all the details for you to start RISC-V programming with Ada/SPARK on different platforms (QEMU, HiFive1, FPGAs with PicoRV32).

At the end of the talk, I will give my view of the RISC-V architecture and community from the perspective of an alternative languages developer. I will cover the good points, the risks, and provide some ideas on how the RISC-V can keep the door open.