Re: Improving the first contact with Ada (was: GCC conflict on Ubuntu for mixed Ada/C++ project)

[zeta_no <olivier_henley@hotmail.com>]

On May 24, 6:45 pm, Ludovic Brenta <ludo...@ludovic-brenta.org> wrote:

> Which tutorials specifically did you use and which ones were bad?  How
> would you suggest improving them?
>
> Also, do you actually _learn_ anything in tutorials?  I mean, do you
> learn the underlying concepts, the basic knowledge that empowers you, or
> do you only skim the surface of things and remain dependent on "experts"
> to guide you?

I should not point anyone by referring directly to their tutorials,
but let say a came across a least 3 tutorials about concurrency
programming with Ada that falls short of providing meaningful insight
on the true capabilities of Ada in this field.  They present task,
delays, guard etc but don't put all these concepts in 'imaging'
situations, which resumes the power of the tasking model.  Those did
not referred to typical uses of Ada, real problem solving that would
enlighten its non naive usage.  The offer for tutorials that presents
a classical introduction to Ada as being a general programming
language, with enhanced capabilities (tasking model, real-time annex
etc), is too important.  Many like me would benefit from more
specialized tutorials, like let say a middle size embedded project,
covering simply, many or all the main concepts provided by Ada and
their sound usage.

To be sure you understand my point here, I see this type of tutorial
as something that can be quite long and involving.  Rarely you can
find that type of a document, that does not qualify as a book nor as a
quick and dirty tutorial, as being organized halfway between a master
thesis and a final year thesis.  It treats a known subject (compared
with the master thesis), with solid knowledge and neat understanding
(compared with some final year thesis).  These documents are great
starters to light up curiosity and understanding to then permit
austere books to sink in.


> It would be constructive if you could be more specific.  In particular I
> would be very interested in ideas on how to improve the first contact a
> newbie can have with Ada.

Oh yes, I have ideas!

1. From my searches, it seems most people active with Ada are
registered and composed article on Ada Programming (Wikibooks).  Tell
me if I am wrong?
2. A stable Ada home should be enforced (it confuses the newbs not to
know where this month, this year you guys are).  Involved people will
change. Their effort are precious and you don't want 'tribal' data.
Wikibooks being an independent Wikimedia Foundation project has low
risk of vanishing in foreseeable future and anyone can add centralized
efforts.
3. Gather all interesting internet links on 'tribal' Ada material to
this page. Next post by newbs asking for Ada resources, be coherent
and send it to a single HOME.
4. Face lift, in the form of reorganization not visual style, to Ada
Programming (Wikibooks)!

i.   The intro is not good as it should be.  It should be more sexy!
ii.  In my humble opinion, the Ada Lovelace painting should be changed
by the more impressive logo 'in strong typing we trust' or a NASA
project's photograph.  I am not from the USA, and still I find this
logo incredibly brilliant.  From a fine arts point of view, this is
truly post-modern (being a logo first, the wordplay, the reference to
a military badge and finally a classical portrait of a women(later by
reference again, you learn she was the first programmer of all time).
Wow!)
iii. The intro should impress(not too much) and excite the visitor.
Concise.
     - Standard of software engineering. (a reference on that)
     - General purpose, object-oriented, safety critical etc... (soft
on that, should impress but not overwhelm)
     - NASA, Boeing etc. (soft on that, should impress but not
overwhelm)
     - Emphasis on 'sexy' project that uses Ada, Globe3D, GTKAda,
MarteOS, etc. (with links and maybe small thumbnails, colorful. This
can't overwhelm because it is on your reach right now compared to the
NASA projects. It can only excite)
     - Links for resources. Split in two branches. One for beginner,
one for regular.

iv. In the beginner section,
a first tutorial for setting up Ada.  One windows, one Linux. (if on
Linux GPS is crap, hide it, tutorial should be made to use emacs with
Ada)


>
> --
> Ludovic Brenta.