From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: *
X-Spam-Status: No, score=1.4 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,FREEMAIL_FROM,
	INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit
X-Google-Thread: 103376,84e44219768a6d78,start
X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public
From: KMays@msn.com (Kenneth Mays)
Subject: Ada95: The Real Job Market and College Life
Date: 1996/04/09
Message-ID: <00001a73+00002cbb@msn.com>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 146626058
organization: The Microsoft Network (msn.com)
newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Date: 1996-04-09T00:00:00+00:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

Greetings,

I know I cast my opinions a bit much, but today was another slap in 
the face. Two local colleges local colleges were teaching Ada courses 
so I thought I'd pop over there to see what books they were using. 
Not to bad mouth the colleges, but they were STILL using books 
written in 1993 - and the compilers weren't Ada95 compilers. So, here 
is a note.

What do the jobs expect from graduating students? Many jobs prefer 
you know Ada (if Ada95 then great, but Ada83 is still used by many 
companies). Just
know the concepts, design, and theory of use. Think of the same concept
as C and C++. You don't have to know C to learn C++, but it does help to
know C in the real world when you have to maintain C programs. COBOL 
is taught in some schools even though COBOL-2 is dominating the DB/2 
and CICS enviroment. Should we learn the original concepts of C, 
COBOL, Ada83, and other languages to understand the advanced versions 
of them?

Ada95 is has many advancements which make Ada95 a great langauge to 
learn over Ada83.The problem is are we teaching our professors, 
colleges, universities, and even high school students about Ada95. 
for those you are reading this message, are your jobs providing you a 
paid "on-the-job"
training program (Learning Tree?) or are you buying books from the bookstore
to gain an edge in the marketplace? Even though we cover technical issues
in comp.sys.ada, I wonder how many people REALLY went to a professional
seminar or college course that taught Ada95 or an advanced course in Ada95.
Or are we just shooting horses until the validation is complete around
1997/1998 before we push Ada95 compilers and books into the hands of 
the innocent? (IMNSHO) Being an Ada83 guru doesn't automatically make 
you a
Ada95 guru - everyone needs training wheels at sometime in their life.

Ken L. Mays, MIS
USAF - Eglin AFB, FL
http://www.wg53.eglin.af.mil (webmaster)