Re: Ada 95 Books for Undergraduate Teaching

[mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman)]

In article <00001a73+00002d54@msn.com>, Kenneth Mays <KMays@msn.com> wrote:

And I thank Kenneth from the bottom of my heart for these GREAT plugs.:-)

>Ada 95: Problem Solving and Program Design, Second Edition
>by Dr. Michael Feldman and Elliot Koffman
>ISBN: 0-201-87009-6, softcover, 1996

>I consider this the best book is teaching both the beginning and 
>experienced programmer about Ada 95. The strength comes from the 
>book's supplement of Ada source code and numerous examples. The books 
>covers all topics usually taught in expensive teaching seminars. I 
>give this book four out of five stars only because it didn't come 
>with a compiler (which is a strong point with any student (see AET 
>IntegraAda/386 or Visual Ada95 at http://www.pcada.com)).

Starting in August, this book will be available with a bundled
Intermetrics/Thomson Ada 95 compiler. This will be similar to the
popular ActivAda for Windows, but handling Ada 95. Contact AW for
details; suggested list price about $70. for the book/CD combo.
(The book will, of course, also continue to be available separately.)

And GNAT for nearly all platforms is, of course, available on the
net and on the Walnut Creek CD, though it's not bundled with the book.

>Software Construction and Data Structures with Ada 95
>by Michael Feldman
>ISBN: 0-201-88795-9, softcover, 1997 (Available June 96 from Addison-Wesley)

>This is the perfect book for an advanced course in Ada following Dr. 
>Feldman's first book. I considered this more of a graduate level book 
>in consideration to the Data Structures books for Pascal. I research 
>the curriculum of the John Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering 
>Computer Science courses to ensure this book could meet certain 
>standards. I gave it five stars since it is the first book, to my 
>knowledge, to deal with Ada 95 using Data structures at a simplified 
>level.

We use it in our CS2-level course, or rather, we've refined the notes
that became the book, in that course. The book itself is being printed
and bound as we speak, and will be in stock at AW on June 17. See
my home page for a pointer to the prefaces and TOCs for both books, or
check AW's web site at http://www.aw.com/cseng. All the programs from 
the CS1 book (about 200) are online at AW and here at GW, and the programs 
from the data structures book will be online by the time the book hits the
streets.

Thanks again for the nice plugs.

>File Structures with Ada
>by Nancy Miller and Charles Peterson
>ISBN: 0-8053-0440-1,600 pages, 1990 (Benjamin/Cummings - Addison-Wesley)

I've used this book with success several times in a junior-level
file structures course, and will continue to use it.

>This is my second choice in Advanced Ada courses. I consider this the 
>best book on file structures using Ada 83 (which you can modify to 
>fit Ada 95 if needed). The book is better off as an advanced course 
>not in line with the first two books I mentioned. Books in this 
>related style are better as seminar books for senior level teaching 
>or advanced courses (definitely not basic/beginning undergraduate 
>courses). I give this book five stars since its great on giving you a 
>full foundation on file structure Ada programming.

Yes, it teaches classical sequential/direct/ISAM/B-tree structures
in a very nice way, with specific reference to Ada's generic binary
file packages. Much of the book is language-independent and quite a
nice job for its genre.

>By the way, its an old book (1990) but doesn't need a lot of 
>improvement other than relation to Ada 95.

I agree and hope that AW and the authors will revise it.

>Note: For most educators, I believe the Ada 95 books need the same 
>quality generated from books on Structured COBOL/Pascal/C++. It seems 
>horrid that such a great language like Ada 95 is polluted by books 
>that are more crytic to the learning student than experienced 
>programmer. Suggest a new generation of books that focus on well used 
>free compilers or student versions of commercial compilers (please 
>include CDROMS with source code to your work, examples (with 
>answers), and references on specialized topics). 

Textbook publishers are generally trying to get out of the diskette and
CDROM business; it's a hassle for them (I don;t agree with their
policy, but that's how it is). The good news is that they are setting
up web sites for the software distributions. AW's is, IMHO, the best
publisher's web site in the business.

>What is hurting Ada 95 is the availability of the compilers 
>(especially tasking Ada 95 compilers) and quality books. Once we get 
>over that first hurdle, then I think all of us will be better off.

Check the book reviews at

http://www.seas.gwu.edu/faculty/mfeldman/ada95books.html.

While I'm happy about the plugs you gave my stuff, you really ought
to look at Burns/Wellings, Naiditch, and Smith, not to mention
Barnes and Cohen. In the Ada 95 area, I think we are _definitely_
going for quality. (We sure aren't going for quantity!:-))

If you mean DOS compilers, try the new GNAT 3.04 with tasking.
And the Intermetrics/Thomson compiler is a very nice piece of work
for Win 95. I think we are over the hump now.

Mike Feldman
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael B. Feldman -  chair, SIGAda Education Working Group
Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
The George Washington University -  Washington, DC 20052 USA
202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) 
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/faculty/mfeldman
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       Pork is all that money the government gives the other guys.
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