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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3885b7fd66a1db28 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-12-23 06:12:40 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!proxad.net!proxad.net!news-hub.cableinet.net!blueyonder!internal-news-hub.cableinet.net!news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.1.1.2418 Subject: Re: Why is Ada a good choice for an ambitious beginner to programming From: Bill Findlay Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Message-ID: References: <5ad0dd8a.0212210251.63b87aba@posting.google.com> <5ad0dd8a.0212230352.11f8b886@posting.google.com> Mime-version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 14:12:27 +0000 NNTP-Posting-Host: 80.195.52.70 X-Complaints-To: abuse@blueyonder.co.uk X-Trace: news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk 1040652759 80.195.52.70 (Mon, 23 Dec 2002 14:12:39 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 23 Dec 2002 14:12:39 GMT Organization: blueyonder (post doesn't reflect views of blueyonder) Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:32234 Date: 2002-12-23T14:12:27+00:00 List-Id: On 23/12/02 11:52, in article 5ad0dd8a.0212230352.11f8b886@posting.google.com, "Wojtek Narczynski" wrote: > Bill Findlay wrote in message > news:... >> On 21/12/02 10:51, in article >> 5ad0dd8a.0212210251.63b87aba@posting.google.com, "Wojtek Narczynski" >> wrote: >>> The advantage of starting in Ada is that you won't acquire bad habits. >>> This is really important. >>> The disadvantage is is that Ada is difficult. Some people may tell you >>> otherwise, they are geniuses creating software for devices that fly to >>> cosmos for a few years now. >> >> 400 not-especially-endowed-with-genius CS1 students have >> learned to program using Ada 95 at Glasgow University >> every year since 1996. > > Well, if you asked them, "Where does 'new' allocate memory?", 50% > would answer "stack", 45% - "heap", 5% would give you the correct > answer. At least this is the result I get with graduates that claim > that they know C++. What is the relevance to beginners in Ada of your experience with graduates who 'know' C++ and are confused about it (unsurprisingly)? This is a strange basis for claiming that *Ada* is difficult! (Especially since the C++ answer is different from the Ada answer.) -- Bill-Findlay chez blue-yonder.co.uk ("-" => "")