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From: kilgallen@eisner.decus.org (Larry Kilgallen)
Subject: Re: I want to use ADA - Turbo Pascal/Delphi guy here
Date: 1998/02/25
Message-ID: <1998Feb25.062355.1@eisner>#1/1
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Date: 1998-02-25T00:00:00+00:00
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In article <6d0cdf$cnb$1@snow.b1.justsystem.co.jp>, "ActiveX" <anilms@rocketmail.com> writes:
> Hi there
> 
> I am a Turbo Pascal / Delphi guy with 12 years of experience. I want to
> start using ADA. I hope somebody could tell me where to start, what books to
> refer to and what compilers to use on NT.

If you have access to the World Wide Web, http://www.adahome.com has
a section on various Ada95 books available.  It also lists compilers
from various sources.

Based on your Delphi background, you might be interested in the Aonix
ObjectAda product which includes a GUI Builder.

> Now the problem is that I am seriously addicted to Delphi and I am in Japan
> where getting English books is a very difficult thing. Are the ADA compilers
> on NT as friendly and intutive as Delphi?

ObjectAda is not as user-friendly as Delphi yet, but they are making
progress and have never yet answered a request with "we never intend
to take it that far".  Their free demonstration version, unfortunately,
does not include the GUI Builder, which is what a Delphi veteran would
want.  http://www.aonix.com after much fussing will lead you to a way
to sign up for their mailing list of customer feedback (Intel-ObjectAda),
so you can make some judgements based on the comments of others.

The documentation situation is that you really need three sets of
books:

	About the Ada language itself (Amazon.com might ship to Japan
		for the right price)

	About the compiler you choose (comes with the compiler)

	About bindings to Windows NT --  there are no Ada-specific
		books of this sort, so most people read the C books
		published by Microsoft and translate in their head.
		Perhaps you would find it easier to read the Delphi
		books (where they talk about NT services).

There are other Ada environments for NT, and someone else will likely
respond discussing them.

> To be frank, I really do envy you guys using ADA day in and day out. I would
> like to do some serious work using ADA. I also do wonder why Borland has not
> come out with an ADA compiler with a Delphi look and feel. It could be a
> real killer app.

Ada (spelled with mixed case to be proper) would have the disadvantage
of not automatically drawing along their traditional customer base of
Turbo Pascal users.  Also, in times of financial challenge, I think
Borland is sticking to core competencies.  Note that although Delphi
is nominally for NT as well as other Windows operating systems, there
is no version of Delphi for the DEC (or Samsung) Alpha.

Larry Kilgallen