Re: Hi, I'm new to ADA

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@attbi.com>]

James S. Rogers wrote:

> You need to think about how to design a two-way look up table
> of words. You also need to think about how you will identify
> the language of the input sentence so that you will perform the
> correct translation. This can be complicated by the fact that
> English contains some French words, and modern French
> contains some English words.

I think Jim is envisioning some of the potential problems with what is 
essentially the extra credit part of this assignment.

Completing the minimal assignment only requires a one-way map.  In other 
words every English word in the data structure must map to a specific 
French word, but several English words can map to the same French word. 
  (For example hat = chapeau and cap = chapeau.)

So choose a data structure that allows insertions and (relatively) fast 
lookup.  If the assignment allows, I would use one of many existing Ada 
implementations of AVL trees, B-trees, hash lists, etc.  But if you do 
choose an existing data structure library, I would document why you 
chose that data structure.  (Good practice for later on, but it will 
also let the instructor know that you did give it some thought.)

If you want to do the more general assignment, I would create two 
separate maps (English to French, and French to English) and insert new 
word pairs in both.  You can then choose some reasonable strategy for 
dealing with duplicate entries like the chapeau example, and how to 
determine whether a French to English translation is desired.  (Ask the 
user is probably a good strategy... ;-)