From: "David Wright" <davidw@uq.net.au>
Subject: Why is Ada NOT a good choice for a beginner to programming?
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 13:30:34 +1000
Date: 2002-12-21T03:37:17+00:00 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <au0nld$b0$1@bunyip.cc.uq.edu.au> (raw)
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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. 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
2) Good online and hardcopy support (tutorials and textbooks) for a BEGINNER
PROGRAMMER per se, not just beginners with that LANGUAGE
3) An online community that has a tradition of supporting such beginners to
programming.
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?
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?
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).
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.
David.
next reply other threads:[~2002-12-21 3:30 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 119+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2002-12-21 3:30 David Wright [this message]
2002-12-21 5:44 ` Why is Ada NOT a good choice for a beginner to programming? sk
2002-12-23 14:29 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-23 17:36 ` sk
2002-12-23 18:24 ` David Wright
2002-12-23 19:16 ` sk
2002-12-23 19:48 ` David Wright
2002-12-23 21:33 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-23 21:17 ` Robert A Duff
2002-12-24 19:22 ` faust
2002-12-24 0:46 ` Robert A Duff
2002-12-24 9:41 ` Pascal Obry
2002-12-25 4:43 ` faust
2002-12-27 17:54 ` Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
2003-01-02 13:50 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-25 7:24 ` AG
2003-01-02 9:56 ` John McCabe
2003-01-02 13:47 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-08 19:39 ` faust
2003-01-08 2:44 ` Jeffrey Creem
2003-01-08 18:54 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-08 19:48 ` chris.danx
2003-01-08 21:59 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-09 15:31 ` Georg Bauhaus
2003-01-10 3:26 ` Hyman Rosen
2003-01-10 22:58 ` Georg Bauhaus
2003-01-10 3:51 ` Kevin Cline
2003-01-10 13:29 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-11 12:09 ` Richard Riehle
2003-01-11 18:13 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-09 16:52 ` faust
2003-01-08 21:57 ` Vinzent Hoefler
2003-01-09 0:59 ` faust
2003-01-09 0:59 ` faust
2003-01-08 13:14 ` Ted Dennison
2003-01-08 17:41 ` Warren W. Gay VE3WWG
2003-01-09 16:40 ` faust
2003-01-08 21:58 ` Vinzent Hoefler
2002-12-23 21:30 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-23 22:11 ` David Wright
2002-12-30 16:22 ` Mark
2002-12-24 0:50 ` Craig Carey
2002-12-29 14:44 ` Colin Paul Gloster
2002-12-21 8:39 ` arvids lemchens
2002-12-21 8:53 ` Gautier
2002-12-21 9:42 ` Craig Carey
2002-12-21 10:44 ` Dale Stanbrough
2002-12-21 15:47 ` Alfred Hilscher
2002-12-21 19:01 ` tmoran
2002-12-22 1:06 ` Robert C. Leif
2002-12-23 14:56 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-23 11:05 ` Alfred Hilscher
2002-12-22 0:34 ` James S. Rogers
2002-12-23 11:11 ` Alfred Hilscher
2002-12-23 14:32 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-23 19:54 ` tmoran
2002-12-21 10:51 ` Why is Ada a good choice for an ambitious beginner to programming Wojtek Narczynski
2002-12-22 14:40 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-22 15:08 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-22 23:02 ` David Wright
2002-12-23 1:36 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-23 2:13 ` David Wright
2002-12-23 14:40 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-27 21:25 ` Randy Brukardt
2002-12-23 11:52 ` Wojtek Narczynski
2002-12-23 14:12 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-23 20:15 ` Wojtek Narczynski
2002-12-24 19:29 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-24 22:56 ` Wojtek Narczynski
2002-12-24 23:31 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-24 23:36 ` Adrian Knoth
2002-12-25 8:23 ` Hyman Rosen
2002-12-27 17:27 ` Kevin Cline
2002-12-28 1:56 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-28 2:13 ` Bill Findlay
2002-12-29 6:07 ` Hyman Rosen
2002-12-23 20:52 ` Wojtek Narczynski
2002-12-23 20:07 ` chris.danx
2003-01-02 10:04 ` John McCabe
2003-01-02 21:32 ` Bill Findlay
2003-01-04 22:55 ` David Wright
2003-01-05 0:50 ` Bill Findlay
2003-01-05 2:18 ` David Wright
2003-01-05 3:57 ` John R. Strohm
2003-01-10 2:51 ` Richard Riehle
2003-01-10 9:45 ` David Wright
2003-01-10 10:59 ` Richard Riehle
2003-01-11 17:47 ` u.r. faust
2003-01-06 9:43 ` John McCabe
2003-01-06 10:05 ` John McCabe
2003-01-06 11:13 ` Bill Findlay
2003-01-10 2:58 ` Richard Riehle
2003-01-10 9:29 ` John McCabe
2002-12-21 11:57 ` Why is Ada NOT a good choice for a beginner to programming? David Marceau
2002-12-21 15:59 ` Alfred Hilscher
2002-12-21 17:48 ` Britt Snodgrass
2002-12-21 20:05 ` Peter Hend�n
2002-12-22 1:54 ` faust
2002-12-22 1:28 ` Hyman Rosen
2002-12-22 2:11 ` Larry Kilgallen
2002-12-22 22:49 ` faust
[not found] ` <u7m2ua.qk3.ln@beastie.ix.netcom.com>
2002-12-23 14:55 ` Wes Groleau
2002-12-24 14:01 ` W D Tate
2002-12-24 20:06 ` Rod Haper
2002-12-25 0:37 ` noone
2002-12-26 13:23 ` W D Tate
2002-12-26 20:37 ` David Starner
2002-12-27 14:02 ` W D Tate
2003-01-13 12:18 ` John English
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2002-12-21 15:47 Alexandre E. Kopilovitch
2002-12-23 14:48 ` Wes Groleau
2003-01-10 6:38 Grein, Christoph
2003-01-10 8:21 ` Hyman Rosen
2003-01-10 15:51 ` Kevin Cline
2003-01-10 19:00 ` Kevin Cline
2003-01-10 8:35 Grein, Christoph
2003-01-10 9:26 ` Hyman Rosen
2003-01-13 16:49 ` Hyman Rosen
2003-01-13 6:13 Grein, Christoph
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