Re: Suggestions for topics in an Ada course?

[<adaworks@sbcglobal.net>]

"Steve" <nospam_steved94@comcast.net> wrote in message 
news:IbidnT7gyP70OKranZ2dnUVZ_vumnZ2d@comcast.com...
>
> I'm not in academics, but one thing that I find that people with a C/C++/Java 
> background have a hard time understanding is strong typing.  They "think" that 
> C++ has strong typing, teach them what strong typing really is.
>
Actually, strong typing is relatively easy to explain.  With Ada, the most 
difficult
part of the language is the visibility rules.   I have known people who have 
been
using Ada for many years who never quite "get it" with regard to the visibility
rules.   In my experience, once someone does understand the visibility rules, 
their
ability to design and program with Ada becomes much better.

Chapter Eight of the ALRM is where the essence of engineering lies in Ada. 
Knowing
when and how to design with limited types demonstrates a level of sophistication 
that
is quite rare.   Being able to design packages with well-formed utilization of 
information
hiding, abstraction, and encapsulation using Ada's several features that support 
those
ideas, is more difficult than type design alone.

At the risk of seeming to be self-promoting, my I suggest that you consider 
having those
students download a copy of Ada Distilled from the AdaIC or AdaCore website. 
BTW,
I recently began work on updating Ada Distilled for the 2005 standard.

For introductory students I currently use JEWL as part of the teaching.  The 
JEWL packages
themselves illustrate some of the best design features possible with Ada.   The 
example programs
make great a starting point for students who want to see their programs in a GUI 
format.

Richard Riehle