Newbie in ADA...

Newbie in ADA...

[Marc Franz Neininger]

Hi folks,

I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
which can faciliate the shift to ADA ???

MN

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Marin David Condic]

Start looking at http://www.adapower.org/ - you will find lots of resources
under "Books" and "Learn Ada". There are several sources for on-line
books/tutorials as well so you can get started right away.

Its a good idea to look at the FAQ, Articles, Resources and Source Code
pages as well since there is a lot of info there that can be helpful to the
beginner.

BTW: It should be spelled "Ada" not "ADA" since it is the name of a person,
not an acronym. It avoids confusion with the American Dental Association, et
alia. :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Marc Franz Neininger" <neininmc@studi.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> wrote in
message news:3BD570E2.309EC4F7@studi.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de...
> Hi folks,
>
> I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
> which can faciliate the shift to ADA ???
>
> MN

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[John McCabe]

On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 15:30:10 +0200, Marc Franz Neininger
<neininmc@studi.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> wrote:

>Hi folks,
>
>I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
>which can faciliate the shift to ADA ???

Depends on what level of Java you're coming from. If you have been
working with Java (or any other language) and are reasonably confident
with it, something like "Ada As A Second Language" by Norman Cohen
(McGraw-Hill; ISBN: 0070116075) would be worth a look.

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Preben Randhol]

On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 15:30:10 +0200, Marc Franz Neininger wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
> which can faciliate the shift to ADA ???

There is two books available on-line now that you might want to look at.

http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/staff/je/adacraft/

http://burks.bton.ac.uk/burks/language/ada/ada95.pdf

Some other nice links:

 Short Intro I           :  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ada.html
 Short Intro II          :  http://www.adaic.com/docs/flyers/95intro.html
 Short Overview          :  http://www.adaic.com/docs/flyers/95overvw.html

 Main Ada site           :  http://www.adapower.com/index2.html

 ISO Reference Manual    :  http://www.adapower.com/rm95/
 ISO Rational Manual     :  http://www.adapower.com/rationale/
 Quality and Style Guide :  http://www.adaic.com/docs/95style/html/cover.html

 Online Ada 95 book      :  http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/staff/je/adacraft/
 Online Ada 95 book II   :  http://burks.bton.ac.uk/burks/language/ada/ada95.pdf
 Ada 95 book reviews     :  http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/ada95books.html

 GNU Ada Compiler(GNAT)  :  http://www.gnat.com/
 GNAT for Linux, Dos,
 NetBSD, OS/2m SCO       :  http://www.gnuada.org/
 GNAT for Windows        :  http://home.trouwweb.nl/Jerry/

 GTKAda ToolKit (GTK+)   :  http://libre.act-europe.fr/GtkAda/
 GNADE Project           :  http://gnade.sourceforge.net/


Preben Randhol

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Ted Dennison]

In article <9r3t3c$e0j$1@nh.pace.co.uk>, Marin David Condic says...
>BTW: It should be spelled "Ada" not "ADA" since it is the name of a person,

>"Marc Franz Neininger" <neininmc@studi.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de> wrote in
>message news:3BD570E2.309EC4F7@studi.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de...
>> I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book

At least he got "Java" wrong too. :-}

I'd really love to know where people get the idea its capitalized that way. In
this case, perhaps he just thinks *all* languages are all-caps?

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Re: Newbie in ADA...

[David Botton]

The correct URL is http://www.adapower.com

>  Main Ada site           :  http://www.adapower.com/index2.html
I assume you were using this to skirt the Ada pushes out C++ Flash Intro :-)

It is no longer up. For those looking to see it, it is listed in the Ada Art
Gallery on AdaPower and available at http://www.adapower.com/index.swf.html

David Botton

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Preben Randhol]

On Tue, 23 Oct 2001 12:34:14 -0400, David Botton wrote:
>>  Main Ada site           :  http://www.adapower.com/index2.html
> I assume you were using this to skirt the Ada pushes out C++ Flash Intro :-)

Yes. It is a nice intro, but it gets a bit annoying after accessing
adapower X times as it takes some time to access the site even if one
press Skip.

> 
> It is no longer up. For those looking to see it, it is listed in the Ada Art
> Gallery on AdaPower and available at http://www.adapower.com/index.swf.html

Ok I'll change my link back to the original again :-)

Preben

Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[M. A. Alves]

> > I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
>
> At least he got "Java" wrong too. :-}
>
> I'd really love to know where people get the idea its capitalized that way. In
> this case, perhaps he just thinks *all* languages are all-caps?

Actually I have come across a couple of editors/reviewers requiring that
style (all languages all-caps)---but I don't think this is the cause of
the current mispellings. (It was some time ago now, perhaps for single
font, no italics, no bold, typewritten documents, perhaps University
theses, applications for grants, can't remember exactly---but I remember
the requirement well, you can imagine why...)

And I think there are books out there today with the wrong spelling.

   *
*     *

The capitalization of Ada and Java is clear, but there _are_ fuzzy
cases: ForTran, ProLog :-)

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Ted Dennison]

In article <mailman.1003917634.19502.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>, M. A. Alves
says...
>And I think there are books out there today with the wrong spelling.

Not books on Ada. I went through this last year. My manager (then) had about 18
different ones. The only ones that had it uppercased (2 if I remember
correctly), had *every* word in the title uppercased. The text still used "Ada".
So no one could have got that impression from reading an actual Ada book.

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Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Richard Pinkall-Pollei]

> ... Ada pushes out C++ Flash Intro :-)

Something I'm hoping to see in real life someday ...

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Jeffrey L. Susanj]

"M. A. Alves" <maa@liacc.up.pt> wrote in message
news:mailman.1003917634.19502.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
> > > I'm absolutely new to ADA... Coming from JAVA... Do you know any book
> >
> > At least he got "Java" wrong too. :-}
> >
> > I'd really love to know where people get the idea its capitalized that
way. In
> > this case, perhaps he just thinks *all* languages are all-caps?
>
> Actually I have come across a couple of editors/reviewers requiring that
> style (all languages all-caps)---but I don't think this is the cause of
> the current mispellings. (It was some time ago now, perhaps for single
> font, no italics, no bold, typewritten documents, perhaps University
> theses, applications for grants, can't remember exactly---but I remember
> the requirement well, you can imagine why...)
>
> And I think there are books out there today with the wrong spelling.
>
>    *
> *     *
>
> The capitalization of Ada and Java is clear, but there _are_ fuzzy
> cases: ForTran, ProLog :-)
>

I can see ForTran as Formula Translator although I always saw it as FORTRAN.
One theory for all caps might be that early programmers used teletypes that
did not have lower case letters since they were not designed for word
processing.  So, all things computer would be in all caps.  Question, did
keypunches have mixed case or only upper?


Jeff S.

Re: Newbie in ADA...

[Preben Randhol]

On 24 Oct 2001 11:12:21 -0500, Richard Pinkall-Pollei wrote:
>> ... Ada pushes out C++ Flash Intro :-)
> 
> Something I'm hoping to see in real life someday ...

In the mean time you can look at http://www.adapower.com/index.swf.html ;-)

I have been trying to push Ada 95 on a local (country-wise) general
computer USENET group and it looks like some people are at least made
aware that Ada 95 is a choice one can make when choosing language.
Usually it is C++, C#, Java and Delphi that is considered.

Hopefully some of them will also start using Ada.

Now I have to change all my links back to http://www.adapower.com/ so I
don't have to see David's greeting. ;-)

Preben Randhol

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Ted Dennison]

In article <GLpy12.r4@news.boeing.com>, Jeffrey L. Susanj says...
>
>I can see ForTran as Formula Translator although I always saw it as FORTRAN.
>One theory for all caps might be that early programmers used teletypes that

Perhaps, but those days are *long* gone. I'll admit that some "early
programmers" are still here among us (particularly in this group :-) ), but they
really have to be a small percentage of all usenet users. I don't really think
that all the "ADA"-using folks out there can be reluctant teletype refugees. A
lot of them seem to be programming newbies.

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <BuCB7.41279$ev2.48981@www.newsranger.com>, Ted Dennison<dennison@telepath.com> writes:
> In article <GLpy12.r4@news.boeing.com>, Jeffrey L. Susanj says...
>>
>>I can see ForTran as Formula Translator although I always saw it as FORTRAN.
>>One theory for all caps might be that early programmers used teletypes that
> 
> Perhaps, but those days are *long* gone. I'll admit that some "early
> programmers" are still here among us (particularly in this group :-) ), but they
> really have to be a small percentage of all usenet users. I don't really think
> that all the "ADA"-using folks out there can be reluctant teletype refugees. A

As I recall, there was a particular version of the standard at which
the capitalization was changed from FORTRAN to Fortran.

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Bill]

Larry Kilgallen wrote:<snip>

> As I recall, there was a particular version of the standard at which
> the capitalization was changed from FORTRAN to Fortran.

In 1978, after the Fortran 77  standard had started its review, but before the standard was
published, ANSI published a standard on how to capitalize names.  This standard was later adopted by
ISO. Naturally the Fortan 77 standard, which was not in electronic form, was grandfathered in with
all capitalization. However subsequent standards that had to refer to this language were inconsistent
in their capitalization, did they use that used by the standard itself or that usually required by
ANSI /ISO? The Fortran 90 standard used ANSI/ISO's capitalization to refer to itself and a large cap
"F" followed by low cap "ortran" to refer to the Fortran 77 standard. Subsequent standards been
consistent with the Fortran 90 typography.

FWIW the original Fortran (I) documents, a manual and a user guide, used several different
capitalization schemes, see http://www.fortran.com/ibm.html, but apparently no ForTran. In later
documents IBM standardized on FORTRAN.

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Jeffrey Carter]

"M. A. Alves" wrote:
> 
> The capitalization of Ada and Java is clear, but there _are_ fuzzy
> cases: ForTran, ProLog :-)

In 1975, FORTRAN was always FORTRAN, but Pascal was never PASCAL.

-- 
Jeffrey Carter

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[John English]

"Jeffrey L. Susanj" wrote:
> 
> "M. A. Alves" <maa@liacc.up.pt> wrote in message
> news:mailman.1003917634.19502.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
> > The capitalization of Ada and Java is clear, but there _are_ fuzzy
> > cases: ForTran, ProLog :-)
> 
> I can see ForTran as Formula Translator although I always saw it as FORTRAN.

The "official" spellings are Fortran, Prolog, Cobol, Algol, and definitely
not ForTran, ProLog, CoBOL or AlgoL... it seems that JavaNamingConventions
are infiltratingEverywhere()... :-)

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[John English]

"M. A. Alves" wrote:
> And isn't COBOL the official spelling?

Yes, oops, you MIGHT BE RIGHT! :-)

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[M. A. Alves]

On Thu, 25 Oct 2001, John English wrote:

> "Jeffrey L. Susanj" wrote:
> >
> > "M. A. Alves" <maa@liacc.up.pt> wrote in message
> > news:mailman.1003917634.19502.comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org...
> > > The capitalization of Ada and Java is clear, but there _are_ fuzzy
> > > cases: ForTran, ProLog :-)
> >
> > I can see ForTran as Formula Translator although I always saw it as FORTRAN.
>
> The "official" spellings are Fortran, Prolog, Cobol, Algol, and definitely
> not ForTran, ProLog, CoBOL or AlgoL... it seems that JavaNamingConventions
> are infiltratingEverywhere()... :-)

Well, there is MySQL, ProC...

And isn't COBOL the official spelling?

Cheers,

-- 
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 M A R I O   data miner, LIACC, room 221   tel 351+226078830, ext 121
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 A L V E S   P-4150 PORTO, Portugal        mob 351+939354002

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Anders Wirzenius]

Jeffrey L. Susanj wrote in message ...

>processing.  So, all things computer would be in all caps.  Question, did
>keypunches have mixed case or only upper?

Some had, some had not. On some machines you could choose what you wanted.
Some had the text printed in lower cases in the upper edge of the card but
the holes was the ASCII (Ascii?) number of upper case letters.

(The content of the holes that were punched out was a popular surrogate for
rice at weddings.)

Anders Wirzenius

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Larry Kilgallen]

In article <3u5C7.7$Ea4.477@read2.inet.fi>, "Anders Wirzenius" <anders.wirzenius@pp.qnet.fi> writes:

> (The content of the holes that were punched out was a popular surrogate for
> rice at weddings.)

Popular only with those who threw it -- not at all popular with those
who had to remove it from their hair and clothing.  Rice falls to the
ground much more readily.

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[John McCabe]

On 26 Oct 2001 05:19:17 -0500, Kilgallen@SpamCop.net (Larry Kilgallen)
wrote:

>In article <3u5C7.7$Ea4.477@read2.inet.fi>, "Anders Wirzenius" <anders.wirzenius@pp.qnet.fi> writes:
>
>> (The content of the holes that were punched out was a popular surrogate for
>> rice at weddings.)
>
>Popular only with those who threw it -- not at all popular with those
>who had to remove it from their hair and clothing.  Rice falls to the
>ground much more readily.

That may be so, but rice also hurts when people throw it *at* you
instead of above you!

Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[Ted Dennison]

In article <3bdd2546.3364467@news.demon.co.uk>, John McCabe says...
>That may be so, but rice also hurts when people throw it *at* you
>instead of above you!

If that's the most prominent pain you have to deal with in your first few months
of marriage, I'd say you got off to a great start. :-)

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Re: Capitalization of language names (was: Newbie in ADA...)

[David Thompson]

Anders Wirzenius <anders.wirzenius@pp.qnet.fi> wrote :
> Jeffrey L. Susanj wrote in message ...
>
> >processing.  So, all things computer would be in all caps.  Question, did
> >keypunches have mixed case or only upper?
>
> Some had, some had not. On some machines you could choose what you wanted.

Keypunches?  Certainly not the IBM line (024, 026, 029);
they had only uppercase on Alpha shift with digits and
most punctuation on Numeric shift, somewhat like
3-row (aka Baudot/5-level) Teletypes of the day
(but not the same keyboard layout; Teletype put
the digits across QWERTY, keypunch on the
right-hand fingers M,.JKLUIO adding-machine style).

There were card _codes_ for lowercase that could be
punched out from and read into the computer (usually
only with certain special programs though).  But I
never saw any keypunch that would punch them
(except by manually multipunching).

> Some had the text printed in lower cases in the upper edge of the card but
> the holes was the ASCII (Ascii?) number of upper case letters.
>
029s at least did optionally print along the upper edge,
but always uppercase on all machines I know of.  This
was called "interpreting".  I don't recall for sure if there
was an option to leave out the interpreter entirely, but
there probably was; there was definitely a switch to
turn it off; and at most shops there were some machines
at any time that had it temporarily broken.

The card code was/is completely unrelated to ASCII.
It was often called Hollerith, although I believe the code
actually designed by Hollerith on early (precomputer)
tabulating machinery was somewhat different (just as
the code now commonly called Morse code is not that
originally designed by Samuel Morse, who probably
wasn't really the inventor of the telegraph anyway).
The card code does translate simply to EBCDIC or
its predecessor BCDIC, but is not identical to them;
AFAICR in IBM manuals it was always just called
"card code", but remember these are the same folks
who religiously talked about "storage" not "memory".

> (The content of the holes that were punched out was a popular surrogate for
> rice at weddings.)
>
Which, like the round holes similarly punched from
paper tape, are called "chad", until last year's Florida
fiasco a nicely obscure piece of technical jargon.

--
- David.Thompson 1 now at worldnet.att.net