Re: Ada as the language of first exposure

[seas.gwu.edu!mfeldman@uunet.uu.net (Michael Feldman)]

In article <2759.2aef7a60@vger.nsu.edu> g_harrison@vger.nsu.edu (George C. Harr
ison, Norfolk State University) writes:
>[text deleted]
>
>I agree with the last statement (re C as a second langauge), and I'm not sure
>about high schools picking up Ada.  It would be difficult because in most case
s
>AP teachers are not trained in Ada and some "teach to the AP examination."  I
>am an ETS Computer Science Reader and can't imagine the language of the
>advanced placement exams changing over night.  
Nor can I. Also, the Computer Science Conference Programming Contest
allows solutions to be written in Pascal or (recently) C. Ada is not even
provided on the machines used in the contest. There was some noise in the
Ada business a couple of years ago about trying to change this, but it
will take Herculean effort. It's like pushing a rope...
>
>If the Ada vendors aren't doing their job in promoting Ada in the CS1 area,
>publishers are.  Many are interested in CS1 and CS2 Ada texts.  Mike's own is
>from Addison-Wesley.  Heath will have a Dale, Weems and McCormick CS1 text. 
>Others have expressed an interest in signing authors as quickly as possible,
>while some are waiting for 9X to be implemented.  
Indeed. There are now about 7 CS1-level books (annotated bibliography on
request). 
>
>We are finally looking seriously at switching to Ada in our first two courses
>and using C/C++ is some other courses.  One of the things that has prevented
>serious discussions up to now was the lack of texts designed for CS1 and CS2. 
>Good, relatively inexpensive, compilers are available.  
Good. I hope you can bring it off.
>
>> ...Shocking as it might seem to some of you, there
>> is a growing probability that Mike Feldman would vote yes on C++.
>> I can only swim upstream so long...
>> 
>> Mike Feldman
>
>Yes, but your swim has not been unprofitable to the Ada and educational
>communities.  There still are plenty of schools out here who are on the verge
>of changing their outlook on a language choice.  The 60% of the schools that
>use Pascal are not solidly rooted in that language.  Many of us need some
>convincing.  The compilers are there; good texts are available; students are
>demanding a C/Ada choice; etc.  
My point exactly. The missing link is ACTIVE outreach from the Ada community
to these schools. Many of them simply do not know that these books and
compilers are available. You and I, George, can do only so much. Where
is the rest of the community? The vendors? The user companies? 

How many teachers - other than readers of this group - know that Alsys has 
a VERY aggressive academic pricing program now? 

Why do I still go to SIGCSE and see teachers' jaws drop when they discover 
that Ada, that huge dinosaur of a language, can run on PC's? (I'm not kidding, 
folks! Those myths are alive and well in the heartland!)

I've got a constructive idea. This newshroup has a lot of readers in
government and industry. I'll bet EVERY ONE of them has a college or
university within, oh, say, 10 miles of their home or office. Suppose
each person invested, say, half a day carrying Ada materials - book lists,
compiler blurbs, etc. - to the nearest school. Would it be worth the
investment of time? Would your supervisor approve? Am I a Pollyanna
to think that maybe somebody would do it on his/her own time?

OK, folks. Shoot it down. Let's hear what's wrong with it :-)

Mike Feldman