Re: Using Ada in novice programming courses

[rob@saturn.cs.swin.OZ.AU (Rob Allen)]

jgore@slate.mines.colorado.edu (GORE JACOB V ) writes:
>I'm considering using Ada as the programming language in an early
>computer programming course.  The students will be near-novices to
>programming.
>Is anybody doing that?  If so, where?  With what textbook and/or
>materials?
Yes, at Swinburne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
We are teaching Ada as a "first" language to about 180 students as part
of B Ap Sci in Computer Science or Maths/Comp Sci or CompSci/Scientific
Instrumentation.  We use Skansholm:"Ada from the Beginning" Addison-Wesley 1988
plus about 200 pages of lecture notes in First Year.  We have just started
using assessed programming labs (3 hrs each fortnight) instead of the usual
programming assignments which last year had the usual (Pascal like) amount
of plagiarism.
In third semester we use Feldman:"Data Structures with Ada" Reston 1985 which 
is overpriced.  Conventional assignments.
Yet to come (in final year): one semester unit of concurrent programming in Ada.

Flinders Uni and Adelaide Uni, both in Adelaide in South Australia, are also
teaching Ada as a first language using Skansholm (I think).

>Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.
>Jacob Gore					      jgore@mines.colorado.edu
>Department of Mathematical and Computer Sciences
>Colorado School of Mines

Results so far: Much the same story as when we taught Pascal except a few
students knew less at the end of the first year as they did halfway --
concept overload?? -- but these were the very weakest students.  We introduced
the assessed labs to force the students to write programs.  Apparently
some of these students were sitting the final exams having never written a
program themselves, i.e. assignments copied.  The first non-practice lab was
held today.  However this is probably the wrong newsgroup for more on this.

Dr Rob Allen,                            rob@saturn.cs.swin.OZ.AU
Computer Science,
Swinburne Institute of Technology,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.