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=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,b2d36a382ccbeb18 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,domainid0,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,CP1252 Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!bos-service1.raytheon.com!dfw-service2.ext.ray.com.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail From: "jdpetrey"@raytheon.com Reply-To: "jdpetrey @raytheon.com" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (Windows/20080421) MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: How Would a Hobbyist Learn Ada? References: <2ee634c3-0dee-4f02-8b02-c4804efd068f@x19g2000prg.googlegroups.com> <69ea5144-0c58-4a16-91fb-6eefa34646bb@w8g2000prd.googlegroups.com> <4843C58D.6080603@gmail.com> <4843e82c$0$27444$9b4e6d93@newsspool4.arcor-online.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Message-ID: Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:01:01 -0700 NNTP-Posting-Host: 147.24.93.123 X-Complaints-To: news@ext.ray.com X-Trace: dfw-service2.ext.ray.com 1213286448 147.24.93.123 (Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:00:48 UTC) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:00:48 UTC Organization: Raytheon Company Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:672 Date: 2008-06-12T09:01:01-07:00 List-Id: I first looked at Ada seriously back in 1989 when I was working for a company doing a missile test set which was programmed in Forth. They ask me to look at some new language options since Forth was considered a rather obscure language (even though it did a great job for what we were doing). I had been aware of Ada�s development so I looked at it. After reading �Ada: An Advanced Introduction� by Narain Gehani and getting a hold of an early MS-DOS compiler from RR-Software (thanks, Randy!), I was hooked! We didn�t make the switch on that project but every job since then has been in Ada and I have never looked back. Ada has been very rewarding to me, both financially and in knowing that I have created quality engineered products for safety and mission critical applications. Ada is also my first choice for hobby projects or quick prototyping of new ideas. I use it often to create Windows GUI-based hardware simulators that communicate over a serial port to other hardware devices. I know Ada is declining in use now but I hope enough younger engineers discover the elegance and beauty of it as I did and keep it alive. -- Jerry