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From: John McCormick <mccormick@cs.uni.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Ada for 1st year students
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2008 08:52:38 -0700 (PDT)
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Date: 2008-10-13T08:52:38-07:00
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On Oct 12, 9:56=A0am, "Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mail...@dmitry-kazakov.de>
wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:00:51 -0700 (PDT), John McCormick wrote:
> > It never ceases to amaze me how computer science educators want to use
> > bleeding edge technology in the beginning courses.
>
> I don't see anything bad in that. It is the question what is considered a=
s
> a bleeding edge. Ada is certainly one in large, high-integrity, concurren=
t
> systems design. It also has a very innovative OO types system. (However,
> there are problems with irregularity, MI, MD). It is a question of how do
> you sell it.

Your points about Ada's complexity are appropriate for upper level
courses.  But not for the first course.  Here students are struggling
with the basic control structures and the basic scalar and composite
types.

It is common that the latest fad language is undergoing rapid change.
Often the textbooks are a version or two behind the tools the students
are using.  While more advanced students can deal with these
differences, it is VERY frustrating to beginners. This was the point I
was trying to make with my comment.

John