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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,f40056d015b2ae33 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public,usenet X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news1.google.com!newshub.sdsu.edu!newscon04.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.net!newsdst01.news.prodigy.net!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssvr25.news.prodigy.net.POSTED!4988f22a!not-for-mail From: Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada References: <4737291e$0$27064$4d3efbfe@news.sover.net> Subject: Re: Suggestions for topics in an Ada course? X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.3138 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3198 X-RFC2646: Format=Flowed; Response Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 70.134.126.233 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: newssvr25.news.prodigy.net 1194853369 ST000 70.134.126.233 (Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:42:49 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 02:42:49 EST Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com X-UserInfo1: [[PA@SBEQJV]SQ@[EZOD]_\@VR]^@B@MCPWZKB]MPXHZUSAANVUEAE[YETZPIWWI[FCIZA^NBFXZ_D[BFNTCNVPDTNTKHWXKB@X^B_OCJLPZ@ET_O[G\XSG@E\G[ZKVLBL^CJINM@I_KVIOR\T_M_AW_M[_BWU_HFA_]@A_A^SGFAUDE_DFTMQPFWVW[QPJN Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 07:42:49 GMT Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:18296 Date: 2007-11-12T07:42:49+00:00 List-Id: "Steve" 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