Ada for C programmers

Ada for C programmers

[Rich Maggio]

I just want to toss something out there to see what some of you think about this.

When C++ became "all the rage", there came many books targeted to the C programmer
that was moving to C++ and OO thinking.  Wouldn't one for Ada be useful?

I am not saying that C better than Ada or anything, but the fact of the matter is
that there are LOTS of seasoned C programmers out there.  If the idea is to try to
"convert" as many C programmers over to Ada as possible, wouldn't such a guide/book
be valuable to the "Ada cause"?  Is there such a book?  Has anyone contemplated 
putting such a book/document together?

If such a book existed, it would have made my life much easier.  I am not 
suggesting that it should be a translation manual, but more of a philosophical
book.  I found that I had to make some fundamental changes about how I looked at
a problem in order to solve it with good Ada code.  Letting go of "pointers all over
the place" was hard.  Grasping the concept of generic packages was difficult at first,
but I was converted when I started really using them.  A book that compared the 
C library concept and the Ada package (generic or otherwise) concept would have saved
me quite a number of frustrating moments.  I suspect that there are many other programmers
out there that would share the same frustration.

Any thoughts?

As a side note - I am amazed by one thing with Ada: the fact that this stuff has been
around since the early 80's.  At work, we use C and C++, and my group is starting to make
use of the STL (Standard Template Library).  Everyone talks about how cool this is and
how wonderful it is.  I took a look at the book and was amazed to see that I was not looking
at anything foreign to me - this was the same sort of thing I was doing in my class.
And the language I was using supported this sort of thing (generics) back in the early 80's!
So, this being the case, I can say that, even though I will not use Ada professionally (at
least at my current job), it was a very worthwhile language for me to learn.

Rich Maggio

Re: Ada for C programmers

[Norman H. Cohen]

Rich Maggio wrote:

> When C++ became "all the rage", there came many books targeted to the C programmer
> that was moving to C++ and OO thinking.  Wouldn't one for Ada be useful?
> 
> I am not saying that C better than Ada or anything, but the fact of the matter is
> that there are LOTS of seasoned C programmers out there.  If the idea is to try to
> "convert" as many C programmers over to Ada as possible, wouldn't such a guide/book
> be valuable to the "Ada cause"?  Is there such a book?  Has anyone contemplated
> putting such a book/document together?

C is certainly one of the "first languages" addressed in "Ada as a
Second Language".  (C++ is another.)

-- 
Norman H. Cohen
mailto:ncohen@watson.ibm.com
http://www.research.ibm.com/people/n/ncohen

Re: Ada for C programmers

[David Wheeler]

Rich Maggio (maggior@world2u.com) wrote:

: When C++ became "all the rage", there came many books targeted to the
: C programmer that was moving to C++ and OO thinking.  Wouldn't one for
: Ada be useful?
:
: I am not saying that C better than Ada or anything, but the fact of
: the matter is that there are LOTS of seasoned C programmers out
: there.  If the idea is to try to "convert" as many C programmers over
: to Ada as possible, wouldn't such a guide/book be valuable to the "Ada
: cause"?  Is there such a book?  Has anyone contemplated putting such a
: book/document together?
:
: If such a book existed, it would have made my life much easier.  I am
: not suggesting that it should be a translation manual, but more of a
: philosophical book.  I found that I had to make some fundamental
: changes about how I looked at a problem in order to solve it with good
: Ada code.

My "Lovelace" tutorial actually has this kind of orientation.
It assumes that the reader already knows another language, most
likely C, C++, or Pascal. Lovelace specifically uses C, C++, and Pascal
examples to help the reader understand areas where they are similar.

Lovelace information is at:
  "http://www.adahome.com/Tutorials/Lovelace/lovelace.htm".

Re: Ada for C programmers

[Jon S Anthony]

In article <E2qu5I.LJr@nonexistent.com> Rich Maggio <maggior@world2u.com> writes:

> I just want to toss something out there to see what some of you
> think about this.  When C++ became "all the rage", there came many
> books targeted to the C programmer that was moving to C++ and OO
> thinking.  Wouldn't one for Ada be useful?

Absolutely.  Go to the Ada home page: www.adahome.com.  Under the
"floors" section, second column, go to "From C/C++ to Ada".  This
material (which is quite good as it is) is being turned into a book to
be published early next year, if I recall correctly.  Perhaps Simon
Johnston, the author, will give you an update.


> I am not saying that C better than Ada or anything, but the fact of
> the matter is that there are LOTS of seasoned C programmers out
> there.  If the idea is to try to "convert" as many C programmers
> over to Ada as possible, wouldn't such a guide/book be valuable to
> the "Ada cause"?  Is there such a book?  Has anyone contemplated
> putting such a book/document together?

See above.

> Any thoughts?

I think you are spot on and the book version of the above referenced
HTML stuff will be a great addition.


> As a side note - I am amazed by one thing with Ada: the fact that
> this stuff has been around since the early 80's.  At work, we use C
> and C++, and my group is starting to make use of the STL (Standard
> Template Library).  Everyone talks about how cool this is and how
> wonderful it is.  I took a look at the book and was amazed to see
> that I was not looking at anything foreign to me - this was the same
> sort of thing I was doing in my class.  And the language I was using
> supported this sort of thing (generics) back in the early 80's!  So,
> this being the case, I can say that, even though I will not use Ada
> professionally (at least at my current job), it was a very
> worthwhile language for me to learn.

Absolutely.  Further, in terms of implementation aspects, you will
find that the C++ compilers out there trying to do something with
templates, exceptions, namspaces, etc. are about where Ada compilers
were ten years ago.  Technologically they are way behind.  At work,
you could be using a language and supporting tools that do all that
plus tasking, hierarchical libraries, etc. - and with more robustness.

/Jon

-- 
Jon Anthony
Organon Motives, Inc.
Belmont, MA 02178
617.484.3383
jsa@organon.com

Re: Ada for C programmers

[Rich Maggio]

I have now discovered Adahome.  Thanks to you all for your responses.  I
am
glad to see that there is a book in the works as well.  Compliments to
the
author of the article that compares C/C++ syntax with Ada.  Oh where
were
you in September??? :-).  It is FANTASTIC.  What I really liked about it 
was it told you not only how to do "C" things in Ada, but told you what
things you could NOT do.  For example - Ada doesn't have the equivalent
to
"continue" in "C".  

Rich Maggio

Re: Ada for C programmers

[Dave Wood]

Rich Maggio wrote:
> 
> I just want to toss something out there to see what some of you think about this.
> 
> When C++ became "all the rage", there came many books targeted to the C programmer
> that was moving to C++ and OO thinking.  Wouldn't one for Ada be useful?
> 
> I am not saying that C better than Ada or anything, but the fact of the matter is
> that there are LOTS of seasoned C programmers out there.  If the idea is to try to
> "convert" as many C programmers over to Ada as possible, wouldn't such a guide/book
> be valuable to the "Ada cause"?  Is there such a book?  Has anyone contemplated
> putting such a book/document together?
> 
> If such a book existed, it would have made my life much easier.  I am not
> suggesting that it should be a translation manual, but more of a philosophical
> book.  I found that I had to make some fundamental changes about how I looked at
> a problem in order to solve it with good Ada code.  Letting go of "pointers all over
> the place" was hard.  Grasping the concept of generic packages was difficult at first,
> but I was converted when I started really using them.  A book that compared the
> C library concept and the Ada package (generic or otherwise) concept would have saved
> me quite a number of frustrating moments.  I suspect that there are many other programmers
> out there that would share the same frustration.
> 
> Any thoughts?

Such a beast is already near completion.  "Ada 95 for C and C++ Programmers", by 
Simon Johnston and published by Addison Wesley Longman, will be available at
your local book shop this spring.  It will also have a free Ada 95 compiler tucked 
into the back cover.

An abbreviated version in the form of a whitepaper was available in the Home of the 
Brave Ada Programmers web page the last time I was snooping around there.

-- Dave Wood
-- Product Manager, ObjectAda for Windows
-- Aonix - "Ada with an Attitude"
-- http://www.aonix.com

Re: Ada for C programmers

[David Wheeler]

Rich Maggio (maggior@world2u.com) wrote:
: I have now discovered Adahome.  Thanks to you all for your responses.
: I am glad to see that there is a book in the works as well.
: Compliments to the author of the article that compares C/C++ syntax
: with Ada.  Oh where were you in September??? :-).  It is FANTASTIC.
: What I really liked about it was it told you not only how to do "C"
: things in Ada, but told you what things you could NOT do.  For example
: - Ada doesn't have the equivalent to "continue" in "C".

: Rich Maggio

While there isn't a keyword equivalent to C's "continue",
there are several trivial ways to do the same thing.
One is to use a "goto" statement to just before the end of the loop.

--- David A. Wheeler
    dwheeler@ida.org

Re: Ada for C programmers

[nasser]

>
>In article <E2qu5I.LJr@nonexistent.com> Rich Maggio <maggior@world2u.com> writes:
>
>> As a side note - I am amazed by one thing with Ada: the fact that
>> this stuff has been around since the early 80's.  At work, we use C
>> and C++, and my group is starting to make use of the STL (Standard
>> Template Library).  Everyone talks about how cool this is and how
>> wonderful it is.  I took a look at the book and was amazed to see
>> that I was not looking at anything foreign to me - this was the same
>> sort of thing I was doing in my class.  And the language I was using
>> supported this sort of thing (generics) back in the early 80's! 

Well, some people also are so excited that Java comes ready with ability to do 
threads, as if this is such a new concept, those people have never heared 
of Ada either.

Nasser

Re: Ada for C programmers

[nasser]

>
>In article <E2qu5I.LJr@nonexistent.com> Rich Maggio <maggior@world2u.com> writes:
>
>> As a side note - I am amazed by one thing with Ada: the fact that
>> this stuff has been around since the early 80's.  At work, we use C
>> and C++, and my group is starting to make use of the STL (Standard
>> Template Library).  Everyone talks about how cool this is and how
>> wonderful it is.  I took a look at the book and was amazed to see
>> that I was not looking at anything foreign to me - this was the same
>> sort of thing I was doing in my class.  And the language I was using
>> supported this sort of thing (generics) back in the early 80's! 

Well, some people also are so excited that Java comes ready with ability to do 
threads, as if this is such a new concept, those people have never heared 
of Ada either.

Nasser