carterc@msudoc.ee.mich-state.edu (Chris Carter) (08/03/87)
I'm an undergraduate CPS major entering my last year. Since MSU doesn't teach Ada, I'd like to learn it on my own. I'd like recommendations for Ada tutorial textbooks (I know Pascal well and have a working knowledge of C), and, if possible, shareware or PD Ada compilers/interpreters ( I ask this last bit because I seem to remember seeing one somewhere). Email to me, and I'll post a summary. I apologize for asking a question which has undobutedly been asked many times before, but I've only been on the net for a couple of months. Disclaimer: It is not University policy to allow undergraduates to have opinions. Therefore, anything in this article resembling an opinion is not the fault of the University. Chris Carter UUCP: ihnp4!msudoc!carterc Michigan State University Arpanet: carterc@msudoc.egr.msu.edu (517) 353-3255 Bitnet: 17158CC@MSU
GXP2F@UOTTAWA.BITNET (george) (08/05/87)
Chris Carter: I find J. Barnes' book "Programming in Ada" to be an excellent book for starters. If you're interested in parallel programming look for "Parallel Programming in ANSI Standard Ada", G.W. Cherry (a very good book with interesting examples). As for PD software, I signed up to an Ada Software Repository at SIMTEL20.ARPA only a couple days ago. I'm thrilled with what I see so far, I haven't had time to get stuff from them. Some of the software they have is AI s/w, dev tools, debuggers, editors, educational stuff, graphic kernel stuff, math, etc etc --- the list is quite long. Send mail to RCONN (rick conn) at simtel20.arpa and ask to join the Ada Software Repository. In the meantime, if you find any more of these repositories, let me know (I'm looking for more). Also, I've heard of a PD Ada compiler which the DoD funded but I don't know where to find it, if its available yet. ... George Popadich, student
blackje%sungod.tcpip@GE-CRD.ARPA (08/05/87)
Received: by sungod.steinmetz (3.2/1.1x Steinmetz) id AA26185; Wed, 5 Aug 87 09:54:38 EDT Date: Wed, 5 Aug 87 09:54:38 EDT From: emmett black <blackje@sungod> Posted-Date: Wed, 5 Aug 87 09:54:38 EDT Message-Id: <8708051354.AA26185@sungod.steinmetz> To: info-ada@ada20.isi.edu Subject: Re: Ada tutorial textbook recommendations solicited I tried to resply directly, but have been unable to reach Chris. So here it goes to the net. ----- Begin Forwarded Message ----- Date: Mon, 3 Aug 87 17:51:24 EDT From: emmett black <blackje@sungod> Posted-Date: Mon, 3 Aug 87 17:51:24 EDT To: carterc@msudoc.egr.msu.edu Subject: Re: Ada tutorial textbook recommendations solicited As it turns out, the real "trick" to Ada is not really the LANGUAGE itself; but the different way you have to THINK about a problem when you attack it with Ada..... you have to develop "Ada-think" when you approach a problem.... therefore it's SOFTWARE ENGINEERING that you have to study -- then the syntax and the semantics of the Ada language come along easily.... I've know LOTS of programmers who wrote FORTRAN (FORTRASH?) code with Ada syntax, and compiled it with an Ada compiler..... but it was STILL FORTRAN. Once upon a time when I managed a project which used Ada, back when there were no REAL Ada compilers -- only NYU AdaED and an EARLY, EARLY TeleSoft compiler -- I found that anyone who had FORTRAN experience on their resumes had to be sent back to the showers... the people who "spoke" ONLY Pascal or an assembly language (and no FORTRAN) were the ones most easily "converted" to "Ada-Think"...... so look for some stuff to read on s/w engineering and THEN study Ada... unfortunately, i'm not able to recommend many good books on s/w engineering and methodologies -- and several books that purport to talk about them spend too much time worrying about syntax and semantics.... but here goes.... and in no particular order....scan and see if you like any of these: Software Engineering with Modula-2 and Ada; Wiener & Sincovec Software Engineering with Ada; Grady Booch Systems Design with Ada; R.J.A. Buhr Structured Analysis and System Specification; Tom DeMarco Ada: An Advanced Introduction; Narian Gehani System Development; M.A.Jackson Logical Construction of Systems; J.D.Warnier An Introduction to Ada; Stephen Young <-- my group liked this one and I also recall seeing a book with a title something like: "Ada for Pascal Programmers" or something similar.. there is also a reasonably good book coming out later this year from Benjamin Cummings (publishers) by Ed Brevard about Object Oriented Design -- not sure about the title, but "object oriented" will no doubt be there.... have fun. --Emmett BlackJE@GE-CRD.Arpa ----- End Forwarded Message -----