Re: How should DoD further Ada education?

[jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter)]

>I also would suggest that DoD sponsor in-house workshops on Ada (perhaps in May
>and June) to faculty in many departments at universities.  That includes MIS,
>Computer Science, *** Engineering, Mathematics, etc.  This could also be
>accomplished at a relatively low cost.  

Good point. These workshops should discuss a number of things, but a few
I think deserve special emphasis are:

1) Upward path from Pascal to Ada--language can be learned in series of
   easy steps, no step particularly difficult. Separability of language
   features into manageable subsets (e.g. ignore tasking, fixed point
   types, etc at outset).

2) Overall symmetry of language definition (yes, I know--there are annoying
   special cases and gotchas, but in GENERAL the language definition consists
   of a small set of concepts and constructs reproduced in various contexts
   [for example, parameters and arguments for subprograms, tasks, and generics
   all have basically the same syntax and semantics]).

3) Suitability for advanced CS classes (e.g. data structures, concurrency)
   and as vehicle for teaching software engineering.

4) Resources (e.g. quality textbooks, course materials, cheap compilers
   [should be FREE compilers...]), reusable libraries and repositories.
   Conferences, seminars, periodicals, significant papers, professional
   societies. SEI.

5) Success stories from actual educators who use Ada in their classes
   (stories should span variety of applications, from CS-1 to multi-person
   graduate projects of significant size and complexity).

6) De-mythification of the DoD "taint"--stress European origin, international
   peer review process, limitation of DoD's role to mostly providing the
   funds (as opposed to designing the language itself) and validating the
   compilers.

Other things that might be good to discuss:

1) European academic interest in and involvement with Ada (Ada seems to be
   more popular with academics in Europe than in the U.S.--this might lend
   it some legitimacy as an academic topic in the eyes of U.S. academics).
   Current areas of research.

2) Success stories of Ada in COMMERCIAL sector, including internationally.
   Emerging viability in Japan and Europe.

3) Comparisons of various metrics between Ada systems and comparable systems
   written in other languages; cost factors, business advantages.

4) Job prospects for new graduates with Ada experience.
-- 
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