From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,808505c9db7d5613 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: mfeldman@seas.gwu.edu (Michael Feldman) Subject: Re: Looking for good Ada95 book Date: 1996/10/30 Message-ID: <55955a$n04@felix.seas.gwu.edu>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 193783851 references: <32723F6A.54A3@dtek.chalmers.se> <32750568.123@essi.fr> <01bbc5d8$a3b24e00$6a9148a6@cornerstone.mydomain.org> organization: George Washington University newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1996-10-30T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: In article , Robert Dewar wrote: >Fran Post says >This seems like a type error to me (comparing values of different types). >The Feldman books are not Ada books, they are CS1/2 books that happen to >use Ada, and I find them well written for this purpose (I stil don't like >the horrible non-standard keyword/identifier style, but other than that ...:-) Your characterization of the books is correct, Robert, though I think it's going too far to describe the lexical style as "horrible." It does what it is intended to do. >The Barnes book IS an Ada book. In the sense that it is intended for experienced programmers interested in learning the language, per se. For this purpose, I agree that it is an excellent book. My only quibble - which I've had since the first edition back in the early 80's - is that it is full of fragmentary bits of code, with VERY few full programs. Even experienced programmers (in my experience teaching industry courses) get trapped by the "what-goes-where" problem and really value seeing full, compilable programs. For full programs, I think Cohen's book, and Naiditch's, do a better job. >If you don't know how to design programs, and want to learn, and want to >learn using Ada, you will find Feldman's book much more appropriate than >Barnes. If you know how to design programs and want to learn specifically >about Ada, then the Barnes book is much more appropriate. I agree wholeheartedly. We have written for different sets of readers. The biggest risk in practitioners using books like mine is that there are _big_ chunks of the language that I don't breathe a word about. With a 700 or 800 page limit, something's gotta give.:-) 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pork is all that money the government gives the other guys. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WWW: http://www.adahome.com or http://info.acm.org/sigada/education ------------------------------------------------------------------------