larry@VLSI.JPL.NASA.GOV (07/29/88)
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First, note that the correct spelling is Ada, not ADA. Ada is not an
acronym. Second, if you can, copy from SIMTEL20.ARPA the four files
from PD2:<ADA.EDUCATION> that can be specified as TEXT*.* and BIBLIO.DOC.
They contain information and reviews on Ada books.
Which book is best depends on the reader and their purposes. A good intro-
ductory text that could be used by novice programmers is by Putnam Texel,
(title forgotten, sorry), which starts with the package concept and gets
students programming immediately. It is a top-down approach which avoids
the more difficult Ada features. She has a second text (which hasn't been
published yet, I believe) that tackles the rest of Ada.
The book by Cohen mentioned a few days ago is the one I found most useful
after I really got down to programming Ada. It gives a lot of examples and
advice on how and when to use different features, and when not to. Some-
times not even the clearest explanation of a language feature makes sense,
and then a complete working example is invaluable.
Larry @ jpl-vlsi