Re: C/C++ programmer giving Ada95 a chance -- writing an emulator.

[swhalen@netcom.com]

Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-deja.com> wrote:
:   swhalen@netcom.com wrote:
:> I'm surprised that no one has pointed you to the Ada95 Quality
:> and Style Guide (AQS95).
: Probably because it seems a surprise to think of this as an
: Ada 95 text book, it does not have much to say about rules of
: the language, it is more about style rules. I suppose it does
: have some useful examples, but learning by example alone seems
: dangerous to me.

I don't really think of it as a text book and would not recommend it
over Barnes or any of the real text books. However it has a few
things to recommend it:

  - it's free and immediately available over the net for those 
    just starting out in Ada who aren't sure they want to invest
    in any books

  - it is written such that experienced programmers will be able
    to see the "preferred" idiom for doing various common and 
    some not so common things the "Ada way"

  - experienced programmers who are wondering "why" certain features
    of the language are the way they are, may get some quick 
    insights into why certain language features are the say they are.
    I know that more than once I've had a minor epiphany from an 
    example in the Ada83 or Ada95 style guide by seeing from one
    of those examples something it hadn't occurred to me to do.
    The examples in the AQS are to me more accessible than many
    of the text books because it's much shorter and to the point.
    In many ways, it says: "if you're not using this idiom, you're
    not taking full advantage of the language" (my gross 
    oversimplification, not flaim bait).

  - I don't advocate learning by examples _alone_, but I think when 
    experienced programmers are starting out to learn a new language,
    examples can give them a "hook" to begin relating some of the 
    features of the new language to their experience (or begin to 
    realize that something is new to them).

-- 
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                Steve Whalen     swhalen@netcom.com
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