bonak@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Esmail Bonakdarian) (04/04/91)
I am looking at a possible replacement for our current Ada text in use for the CS2 class I teach. I currently have been using the 3rd edition of "Programming in Ada" by Barnes, but now am looking for alternatives. One book that I am considering is "An Introduction to Ada" 2nd edition by S.J. Young. Anybody use that book as a text? The Ada course I teach has a prerequisite of one semester of programming (this is Pascal at this time). Many of my students complain that the Barnes book is poorly organized, too wordy and overwhelming with details. While I do not agree with all of their complaints I can see their point of view and I am willing to look at other books. Any recommendations? Thanks, Esmail
eichmann@cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (David Eichmann) (04/05/91)
bonak@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Esmail Bonakdarian) writes: >I am looking at a possible replacement for our current Ada text in use >for the CS2 class I teach. I currently have been using the 3rd edition >of "Programming in Ada" by Barnes, but now am looking for alternatives. >One book that I am considering is "An Introduction to Ada" 2nd edition >by S.J. Young. Anybody use that book as a text? >Any recommendations? >Thanks, >Esmail Esmail, I haven't seen Barnes, but I do have a stack of Ada texts: J. Skansholm, Ada From the Beginning, Addison-Wesley, 1988. This is a basic "Ada as yet-another-programming-language" text. Solid, but doesn't properly address algorithms vs. code. E. Vasilescu, Ada Programming with Applications, Wm. Brown, 1987. Same comments as for Skansholm. D. Volper and M. Katz, Introduction to Programming Using Ada, Prentice Hall, 1990. Uses a spiral approach to first work with general conceptual issues followed by increasing layers of the language complexity. Uses a robot package ala Karel for most of the initial chapters. (The package is available anonymous ftp from the authors, and includes a concurrent version with multiple robots controlled by Ada tasks.) D. Watt, B. Wichmann, and W. Findlay, Ada: Language and Methodology, Prentice Hall, 1987. I just received this, and so haven't looked at it in detail. At first glance it appears to fall somewhere inbetween Skansholm and Volper/Katz. I've personally used Skansholm and Volper/Katz and much prefer Volper/Katz. Students with previous programming experience may find the initial chapters too introductory. There *is*, I think, sufficient information to do a second course (other than Intro to alg./prog.) based upon the programming-in-the-large, generics, and concurrency chapters. - Dave --- David Eichmann Dept. of Statistics and Computer Science West Virginia University Phone: (304) 293-3607 Morgantown, WV 26506 Email: eichmann@a.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu
jncs@uno.edu (04/06/91)
In article <1401@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu>, eichmann@cs.wvu.wvnet.edu (David Eichmann) writes: >bonak@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Esmail Bonakdarian) writes: > >>I am looking at a possible replacement for our current Ada text in use >>for the CS2 class I teach. I currently have been using the 3rd edition >>of "Programming in Ada" by Barnes, but now am looking for alternatives. > >D. Watt, B. Wichmann, and W. Findlay, Ada: Language and Methodology, >Prentice Hall, 1987. > > I just received this, and so haven't looked at it in detail. At first > glance it appears to fall somewhere inbetween Skansholm and Volper/Katz. I have used this one on several semester for the second programming course; students are assumed to have taken the first programming class using Ada. I find it solid from, the point of view of Ada syntax and usage. But it is rather weak on software engineering concepts. It only has one chapter with addresses software engineering issues (chapter 16), and a case study wich includes tasking, thus not adequate for this level. I could only recommend it for the Ada portion. I used the Young book several years ago. It was again a purely Ada book, very little on software engineering per se. Jaime Nino Computer Science University of New Orleans
larryc@puente.jpl.nasa.gov (Larry Carroll) (04/12/91)
In article <5253@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> bonak@herky.cs.uiowa.edu (Esmail Bonakdarian) writes: >I am looking at a possible replacement for our current Ada text in use >for the CS2 class I teach. I suggest Norman Cohen's _Ada as a Second Languange_ (despite the title's presumption of prior experience). It IS long, but the length is because of very clear discussions of sometimes difficult topics, and lots of good examples--I consider examples absolutely essential. Also, I suggest using half of the text for one course, and the remainder for a second course. (I think it's a mistake to try to teach all of Ada in a single course.) Each chapter has an excellent summary at the end, also good questions and exercises. Many of the chapters have sections that are optional, making it easier for teachers to skip material they consider too detailed or advanced.
spray@convex.com (Rob Spray) (04/12/91)
In <1991Apr11.231425.29838@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov> larryc@puente.jpl.nasa.gov (Larry Carroll) writes: >I suggest Norman Cohen's _Ada as a Second Languange_ (despite the title's >presumption of prior experience). ... If the title was Ada as a First Language, what language would the book be written in? The title is not "Ada as a Second Programming Language". Seriously though, this is the Ada book I recommend to programmers in industry, and I haven't had any complaints. Rob Spray, Software Quality Manager, CONVEX Computer Corporation 3000 Waterview Parkway,PO Box 833851 MS QAE,Richardson TX 75083-3851 USA 214/497-4110 (o);214/497-4441 (fax);spray@convex.com; ...uunet!convex!spray
dd@sei.cmu.edu (Dennis Doubleday) (04/13/91)
spray@convex.com (Rob Spray) writes: larryc@puente.jpl.nasa.gov (Larry Carroll) writes: >>I suggest Norman Cohen's _Ada as a Second Languange_ (despite the title's >>presumption of prior experience). ... > >If the title was Ada as a First Language, what language would >the book be written in? The title is not "Ada as a Second >Programming Language". From the preface: "The book is entitled "Ada as a Second Language" because it is an introduction to the Ada programming language, but not an introduction to programming. We assume the reader is familiar with certain fundamental programming notions...The first language can be any statement-oriented high-level language. However, we pay particular attention to FORTRAN, PL/I, and Pascal." So he really DOES mean a second *programming* language. -- Dennis Doubleday (dd@sei.cmu.edu) _ /| Software Engineering Institute \'o.O' Carnegie Mellon University ACK! PTHFT! =(___)= Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (412)268-5873 U