Re: How Would a Hobbyist Learn Ada?

[mockturtle <framefritti@gmail.com>]

On May 24, 6:53 am, Ankur Sethi <get.me.an...@gmail.com> wrote:
> n00b question? Probably. Can I find my answer somewhere else? Nope. Do
> I have any other place to turn to? Definitely not.
>
> I'm a hobbyist programmer just out of high school. I've been dabbling
> in C and Python for a while now, and would probably take up CS in
> college (just a few months from now).
>
(snip)
> So, what would an amateur, cash deprived programmer like me do to
> learn Ada? There are web tutorials, for for the 95 standard. There's a
> Wikibook, but I've found it incomplete at several places and there are
> a lot of concepts I can't grasp. There's the reference document, but I
> can't make head or tail of it.
>

Welcome aboard!
I am too a beginner in Ada (I discovered it less than one year ago),
so
my memories about my learning Ada are still fresh.  Moreover,
you have a programming background similar to mine (but I use Ruby
instead
of Python), althoug maybe I have more experience (I finished high-
school
too much time ago, alas :-).  This is my path in learning Ada

 1. Got the GNAT suite.  It is free and the latest release covers Ada
2005.

 2. Read whatever tutorial I was able to find.  Yes, you are right,
this is
a weak spot in our favorite language (there was a thread on this
newsgroup
few months ago).  I guess that there is no tutorial
about Ada 2005, but you can start from the tutorial for Ada 95, then
add the
difference by reading the Rationale (see at http://www.adaic.org/standards/ada05.html).

About the reference: I agree that it is not the most readible document
in the
world, but it is handy to have when you program.  I find a little bit
clearer
the "Annotated" version, although it is said that it is

   "Intended primarily for compiler writers, conformance test
writers,
    and others who wish to study the fine details"

I find that in more than one occasion the annotations make more
intuitive
the "CS legalese" used in the RM.

 3. Most important (at least for me): pick a problem and start
programming.  The
problem must be not too easy (a part, of course, the "Hello world"
program type that you
will write at the *very* beginning), nor too difficult. Just to give
you an
idea of the complexity, I will tell you that (because of my
background)
I decided to write a generic package for working with polynomials and
matrices
with coefficients in a ring.

I also would suggest taking a problem which requires multitasking.  If
you
ever wrote multitasking programs in C/C++, you will fall in love with
Ada
at once...  Also, try the "generic" programming and experience the
difference
with C++ templates...

A last warning: do not be scared if the first times you will have to
fight
half an hour to have your first progam compiled. Ada compilers are
quite
picky... (but that's why we love Ada :-).