Re: Why is Ada NOT a good choice for a beginner to programming?

["Britt Snodgrass" <ada2005@no-spam.msn.com>]

"David Wright" <davidw@uq.net.au> wrote in message
news:au0nld$b0$1@bunyip.cc.uq.edu.au...
> Hello from DownUnder...
>
> I would appreciate some general advice from experienced Ada programmers,
> particularly (but not only) those using it as a teaching vehicle for
> Computer Science courses etc.
>
> As a young adult investigating learning programming as a hobby
> (self-teaching on PC, Windows 98), I've been lurking for a while and have
> looked at some relevant Ada sites.

From this statement I assume you have looked at some of the following:
http://www.adapower.com
http://www.adaic.org
http://www.acm.org/sigada
ftp://ftp.cs.nyu.edu/pub/gnat/3.15p/winnt/
http://www.usafa.af.mil/dfcs/bios/mcc_html/adagide.html
http://www.rrsoftware.com
http://www.aonix.com/content/products/objectada/windows.html
http://libre.act-europe.fr/GtkAda/
http://www.cmis.brighton.ac.uk/staff/je/jewl/
http://www.crystalcode.com/codemage/MainMenu/Coding/Ada/IntroducingAda.php

>My purpose is to gradually and thoroughly
> learn  computing constructs and ultimately to apply same and see how far I
> can take this interest. I'm not making a career of it... well not yet
> anyway.
>
> To this end, I obviously need to commit to a particular language
programming
> environment (not necessarily a GUI development interface); yet there seem
to
> be several hurdles to even this crucial initial step.  It seems that there
> are three essential threshold requirements, namely:
>
> 1) A free (preferably) downloadable programming environment that is
installs
> without fuss and instability

GNAT, AdaGIDE, and ObjectAda SE are free and install easily.  There is also
a free subset of the CLAW GUI library available.

> 2) Good online and hardcopy support (tutorials and textbooks) for a
BEGINNER
> PROGRAMMER per se, not just beginners with that LANGUAGE

There are many Ada 95 textbooks available, must published in 1995 thru 1999.
For beginners I recommend "Rendezvous with Ada 95" by David Naiditch or one
of the Ada 95 college texts by Feldman, McCormick, or Barnes. See
http://www.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/ada95books.html and
http://www.adaic.org/free/freebook.html

> 3) An online community that has a tradition of supporting such beginners
to
> programming.

comp.lang.ada provides this (as long as you are not simply trying to get us
to do your homework).

>
> BASIC and PASCAL very!! clearly fulfill these criteria and I am tempted to
> start with one of them. However the posts of Richard Riehle and others on
> this and other newsgroups speak so highly of Ada's functionality and
syntax
> clarity that it's hard to overlook this as a possibility.
>
> On the other hand, and with the best will in the world, I can't see that
Ada
> satisfies ANY of the three criteria above, though I am willing/wanting to
be
> convinced otherwise.
>
> Specific Questions:
> 1) Am I not giving Ada sufficient credit for being a suitable entry-level
> language for a BEGINNING PROGRAMMER?

No you are not. Although Ada supports many advanced features, it is easy to
pick out a simple, PASCAL-like subset and start with that.  I think its a
particulary good first languge. Its not case sensitive and ugly like Java.

>
> 2) Would you recommend that I immerse myself in either BASIC (QBasic) or
> PASCAL (Borland TP7) for a couple of years (yes, OK... forget BASIC ;D)
and
> THEN springboard to Ada?

No, start with Ada and look at other languages later (they may not impress
you much by then).  I came to Ada after using Basic, Fortran 77, and C.  I'd
now like to learn a "functional" language for comparison.

>
> 3) If you were to opt for Ada as an entry point, which particular dialect
or
> environment would be the most user friendly from a set up and
> 'learning-the-fundamentals' point of view. Since I have a choice, I'd like
> an Ada encounter that is a FUN experience, rather than marred by
> gratuitious, buggy FRUSTRATION (which is why I'm not keen on beginning
with
> C, C++ or Java, even though others do).

Start with both GNAT 3.15p for Windows and Aonix ObjectAda 7.2.2 Special
Edition.  Ada is a relatively picky language (intentionally so) but GNAT
provides great error messages.  AdaGIDE is a free Ada editor for use with
GNAT. ObjectAda provides a very good Ada editor and provides a second
compiler so you can try your programs with two different compilers.

>
> Please accept that I am not trying to offend anyone; it's just that this
> initial phase is somewhat forbidding to a neophyte and I need to be a
> critical, hype-detecting, cynic ;D.
>
> Many thanks in advance.

You're welcome.

>
> David.
>

Britt (in Iowa, USA)