Re: Improving the first contact with Ada (was: GCC conflict on Ubuntu for mixed Ada/C++ project)

[Ludovic Brenta <ludovic@ludovic-brenta.org>]

Nicholas Collin Paul de Gloucester wrote on comp.lang.ada:
> I do not have time to follow this thread, but the quoted post made me
> say to an outsider earlier than I was going to that trying to install

Parse error, or syntax error :) I have no idea what you're trying to
say.

> an Ada compiler would be a good idea. An excerpt of a report of how
> this was not accomplished is quoted at the end of this post.

I generally agreed and still agree with most of what the OP said;
there is a wealth of information about Ada and installing compilers on
the web but there is a need for an "entry point" document with step-by-
step instructions for beginners.

The Ada Programming wikibook[1] is the closest thing to such a
tutorial; it is still not perfect, of course. The Ada Information
Clearinghouse[2] is the closest thing to a central hub for more
general information (other books, standards, success stories, etc.)

So, if you would like to help a beginner intalling an Ada development
environment, you should point them to these two sites.  If they have
any specific questions, you should direct them to this newsgroup
comp.lang.ada and tell them to specify which operating system they use
and which compiler, IDE or library they're trying to install.

[1] http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Ada_Programming
[2] http://www.adaic.com

Also, everyone is free to improve the wikibook (I recently rewrote the
chapter on object-oriented programming myself).

--
Ludovic Brenta.