Re: Looking for good Ada95 book

[dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu (Robert Dewar)]

Mike says

"It's a small point in the larger community; I maintain it is a helpful
style for first-year students."

OK, so, a claim that this is not just arbitrary, but that there is an
objective advantage. OK, Mike, what is the source of evidence for this
claim?

I have never heard anyone else make this claim, or seen any evidence
to back it up -- sure some Pascal books use this style, but as I explained
there is understandable historic precedent, and you cannot assume that
because a book uses this style that it agrees with the point Mike is
making.

P.S. Mike cannot say that he was completely unaware that anyone might
object to this style, he has known for a long time that I object, but it
is a fair point that no one else reviewing the book did.

So far on CLA, no one has actively supported the MF style, the contributions
to this thread are divided between those who agree with me that it is a pity
that the book is inconsistent with the most commonly recommended style, and
those who think it does not matter. It would be interesting to hear from
anyone else who agrees that the style of upper case keywords is preferable
for teaching.

In my class, I see that most students use the standard style (I encourage
but do not insist on it, I should have insisted). A few students who are
used to upper case keyword style in Pascal persist in using it, and
a few who are new to Ada and Pascal copy the style in the book. Some
other students know Pascal well, but have learned from books with lower
case keywords, so remain in that style (in general people tend to stick
with whatever style they learn first in my experience, even if imported
from another language).