Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

[John G. Volan]

AJ wrote:
> 
> Sorry if this is a repetitive question on this group, but I need to learn
> 'ADA' & I need to learn it FAST.  I catch on relatively quick & am very
> computer friendly.  Lemmie know if you can help. -AJ
> Also in search of good downloadable tutorials & instruction books, web
> sites, etc...

No problem, try going to the following URL:

http://www.adahome.com/

You will find everything you need there, including online tutorials,
etc. etc.

However, for your first lesson: "Ada" is not an acronym. It is the name
of a person, Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, 1815-1852,
daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and assistant to the mathematician
Charles Babbage. Babbage designed a mechanical computer, but could never
build it, because 19th century Britain just did not have the precision
machine-tooling necessary to fabricate the fine gears it would require.
However, Ada, a brilliant mathematician in her own right, wrote
instructions on how Babbage's "Analytical Engine" might perform certain
computations.  Had the thing been built, her instructions would have
worked.  For this, she is credited as being the first computer
programmer in history.

The programming language you inquired about was named in her honor.
"ADA" on the other hand refers either to the "Americans with
Disabilities Act" or the "American Dental Association".  If you are
disabled with a toothache, you will have to inquire with some other
newsgroup ... ;-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Internet.Usenet.Put_Signature 
  (Name       => "John G. Volan",
   Employer   => "Texas Instruments Advanced C3I Systems, San Jose, CA",
   Work_Email => "johnv@ti.com",
   Home_Email => "johnvolan@sprintmail.com",
   Slogan     => "Ada95: World's *FIRST* International-Standard OOPL",
   Disclaimer => "My employer never defined these opinions, so using" & 
                 "them would be totally erroneous ... or is that"     &
                 "just nondeterministic behavior now? :-) ");
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Any Ada tutors out there?

[John Herro]

"AJ" <aj13@mindspring.com> writes:

> I need to learn Ada ... FAST. ...
> in search of good downloadable tutorials ...
> All spammers are reported ... 
> DO NOT SEND me ANY ads.

In that case, this response is marginal, but I'm the author of
a shareware Ada Tutor program, which you can download from
http://members.aol.com/AdaTutor, or from
ftp://members.aol.com/AdaTutor.  You can also find a lot of
other good stuff starting at http://www.adahome.com.

Ada is not an acronym, but is named after Augusta Ada Byron,
countess of Lovelace and daughter of the poet Lord Byron.  She
worked with Babbage and has been called the world's first
programmer, which is why the language was named after her.

As soon as you start to study the language, you'll see how very
superior it is to other languages.  You'll really like Ada!  Good
luck, and remember, we're here to help.

- John Herro
Software Innovations Technology
http://members.aol.com/AdaTutor
ftp://members.aol.com/AdaTutor
-----
MUSIC is easier to read when written in C.
SOFTWARE is easier to read when written in Ada.

Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

[Michael F Brenner]

By now you have followed the advice in the other responses to your question,
downloaded the Rationale and Reference Manual and Tutorial, downloaded
gnat for your personal computer, ran the gnat demo program, and are
attempting to do your first program. What a great place to be at, 
programming your first real Ada program. If you get any error messages
which are not self-explanatory, please post them here!

Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

[Edmond Walsh]

In article <3395065E.B0@sprintmail.com>, "John G. Volan"
<johnvolan@sprintmail.com> writes
>AJ wrote:
>> 
>> Sorry if this is a repetitive question on this group, but I need to learn
>> 'ADA' & I need to learn it FAST.  I catch on relatively quick & am very
>> computer friendly.  Lemmie know if you can help. -AJ
>> Also in search of good downloadable tutorials & instruction books, web
>> sites, etc...
>
>No problem, try going to the following URL:
>
>http://www.adahome.com/
>
>You will find everything you need there, including online tutorials,
>etc. etc.
>
>However, for your first lesson: "Ada" is not an acronym. It is the name
>of a person, Augusta Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, 1815-1852,
>daughter of the poet Lord Byron, and assistant to the mathematician
>Charles Babbage. Babbage designed a mechanical computer, but could never
>build it, because 19th century Britain just did not have the precision
>machine-tooling necessary to fabricate the fine gears it would require.
>However, Ada, a brilliant mathematician in her own right, wrote
>instructions on how Babbage's "Analytical Engine" might perform certain
>computations.  Had the thing been built, her instructions would have
>worked.  For this, she is credited as being the first computer
>programmer in history.
>
>The programming language you inquired about was named in her honor.
>"ADA" on the other hand refers either to the "Americans with
>Disabilities Act" or the "American Dental Association".  If you are
>disabled with a toothache, you will have to inquire with some other
>newsgroup ... ;-)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Internet.Usenet.Put_Signature 
>  (Name       => "John G. Volan",
>   Employer   => "Texas Instruments Advanced C3I Systems, San Jose, CA",
>   Work_Email => "johnv@ti.com",
>   Home_Email => "johnvolan@sprintmail.com",
>   Slogan     => "Ada95: World's *FIRST* International-Standard OOPL",
>   Disclaimer => "My employer never defined these opinions, so using" & 
>                 "them would be totally erroneous ... or is that"     &
>                 "just nondeterministic behavior now? :-) ");
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
What a perfect answer, information, education and humour in
one neat package.  If only the rest of the internet was like that.
-- 
Edmond Walsh

Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

[Mark Eichin]

>Charles Babbage. Babbage designed a mechanical computer, but could never
>build it, because 19th century Britain just did not have the precision
>machine-tooling necessary to fabricate the fine gears it would require.

I just double checked this, and the "Difference Engine 2" that was
replicated in 1991 was built with 1830's technology; to quote a paper
by Ralph Merkle, http://nano.xerox.com/nanotech/mechano.html,

> ... Remarkably, it was designed in the early 1800's. A working model
>of the simpler Difference Engine No. 2 was recently built by the British
>Museum of Science from Babbage's original blueprints using parts that would
>have been available in the 1800's, both in terms of the materials used and the
>precision of the milling[31].

While this doesn't indicate that the more advanced Analytical Engine
could have actually been built at that level, it does seem to pave the way...

Re: Any ADA tutors out there?

[David Wheeler]

AJ (aj13@mindspring.com) wrote:
: Sorry if this is a repetitive question on this group, but I need to learn
: 'ADA' & I need to learn it FAST.  I catch on relatively quick & am very
: computer friendly.  Lemmie know if you can help. -AJ
: Also in search of good downloadable tutorials & instruction books, web
: sites, etc...

I'm biased, but I recommend the following book:

"Ada 95: The Lovelace Tutorial" by David A. Wheeler.
The publisher is Springer-Verlag and its ISBN number is 0-387-948-01-5.
It's about 292 pages long and it was published in March 1997.

Here's a quote from the preface that explains its purpose:
"This tutorial explains the basics of the Ada computer programming
 language and assumes that you have had some exposure to some other
 algorithmic programming language (such as Pascal, C, C++, Fortran,
 or BASIC)."

Below is how to order it and what's in it.

============= How to Order the Book ==============

The following are various ways you can order the book:
* You can call Springer-Verlag.
In the U.S., Canada and Mexico their toll-free number is (800) 777-4643.
You can also fax an order to (201) 348-4505 from those three countries.
If you are in another country, contact Springer-Verlag in
Berlin, Germany by phone at 49 30 827 870 or by fax at 49 30 821 4091.

* You can deal with Springer-Verlag electronically.
The web site of Springer-Verlag New York is "http://www.springer-ny.com/".
You can email an order. In the U.S.A., Canada, and Mexico send email to
"orders@springer-ny.com", otherwise send email to "orders@springer.de".
 You can order via the web at "http://www.springer-ny.com/ordernew.html".
They take Mastercard, Visa, Discover, or American Express.

* You can order the book electonically through Amazon.com; open URL
"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0387948015/".

* You can use the postal service and send a check or money order to
Spinger-Verlag:
   Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
   Attn: Service Center
   333 Meadowlands Parkway
   Secaucus, NJ 07094


============= What's in the Book ==============

Here is a brief outline of the book:
* Lesson 1 - Brief Introduction to Ada.
* Lesson 2 - Basic Ada Structure (Packages).
* Lesson 3 - Ada Lexical Elements.
* Lesson 4 - Procedures and Type Integer.
* Lesson 5 - Statements (if, loop).
* Lesson 6 - Basic Types (Float, Boolean, subtypes, record).
* Lesson 7 - Object-Oriented Programming.
* Lesson 8 - Introduction to String Types.
* Lesson 9 - Basic Input/Output.
* Lesson 10 - Exceptions.
* Lesson 11 - Generics.
* Lesson 12 - Access Types.
* Lesson 13 - Tasks and Protected Types.
* Lesson 14 - Ada-related Information.
* Lesson 15 - Ada Program Structure.
* Lesson 16 - Interfacing to Other Languages (including C and Java).
* Lesson 17 - Miscellaneous Ada Subjects.
* Lesson 18 - Sample Ada Program "Small".
* Appendices - BNF Explanation and Source Code
* Index

The book has questions at the end of each lesson which should
be useful in classroom settings.  It also has diagrams in the
Unified Modeling Language (UML) that describe in detail the example
in lesson 18.

The book is based on my web-based tutorial; you can find that tutorial
at http://www.adahome.com/Tutorials/Lovelace/lovelace.htm

--- David A. Wheeler
    dwheeler@ida.org