Re: OO ADA?

["Samuel A. Mize" <smize@magellan.bgm.link.com>]

Shaun Owen wrote:
> 
> I'm learning ada at uni but I see lots of posts concerning OO programming.
> I have a very limited grasp of OOP, but can someone just give me a brief
> explanation on OOP in ada please? Will I have the necessary routines in
> my GNAT307 compiler for MSDOS to write an OO program?

Since GNAT provides Ada 95, yes.  (The previous standard -- Ada 83 --
did
not provide full automated support for object-oriented programming.)

However, Ada 95 is not just an "object-oriented language."  The
facilities
for object-oriented programming are embedded in a larger context
providing
support for multi-tasking, system decomposition and strong typing (among
other features).

The basis of OOP in Ada is the "tagged type."  This corresponds to one
use
of "class" in C++ (the construct "class" is used several ways in C++).

I suggest you try the Ada tutorials at adahome (http://www.adahome.com).
You should be able to get a brief but careful overview of the
object-oriented features.

If you want to look further into the design of Ada's OOP support, you
can
download a copy of the Ada 95 Rationale from
http://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/ (or ftp://sw-eng.falls-church.va.us/).
For the OO story, read Part Two, Section 4.  Then I suggest you read
Part
One Section I, and Part One Section II.1 - II.5.  This should give you a
good grounding in how Ada's OO support is designed, and why.


Samuel Mize

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