Re: Learning Ada83

[kevin.cline@gmail.com (Kevin Cline)]

"Nick Roberts" <nick.roberts@acm.org> wrote in message news:<opsdp2srmvp4pfvb@bram-2>...
> On 2 Sep 2004 07:23:25 -0700, Jim Gurtner <jgurtner@mindspring.com> wrote:
> 
> > I am a Computer Engineering student and am teaching myself Ada95
> > using the book "Ada 95: The Craft of Object-Oriented Programming"
> > by John English.
> >
> > I would like to be able to get a job in the defense industry when
> > I graduate.  Should I get a book on Ada83 and study it also?  Or
> > does studying Ada95 make one automatically fluent in Ada83?
> 
> Ada 95 is nearly a true superset of Ada 83, so I think studying Ada
> 95 will enable you to understand Ada 83 programs well enough. I
> doubt that there will be much origination of new software in Ada 83
> in any shop anywhere nowadays.
> 
> You would probably find it instructive to look at the Ada 83
> reference manual. The Ada Information Clearinghouse, at:
> 
>     http://www.adaic.org/
> 
> has an online copy of the ARM 83 (under the Ada Standards menu).
> 
> One significant point about the difference between Adas 83 and 95
> is that the really object-oriented features were added in Ada 95.
> However, Ada 83 did have packages and generics. It even had type
> derivation (but not extension, so it wasn't very useful).
> 
> Actually, although learning Ada 95 is a very good idea for several
> reasons, you ought to be advised (if you have not already) to learn
> some other languages, at least to a basic level. Probably C and one
> assembly language (not in detail) would be useful. Probably C++
> would also be helpful (again, not necessarily in detail). Possibly
> Java (but I'm not sure). Learning a little about some functional
> language would also probably be enlightening to you, as would a
> little knowledge of typical (relational) database systems.

It would also be useful and practical to learn one of the advanced
scripting languages like Perl or Python or Ruby.  Not only will you
learn some new styles of programming, but you will find them extremely
useful in automating repetitive tasks.  That sort of automation can
make huge differences in productivity.  While the average developer is
performing some 34-step process for the second time that day, and then
recovering from the problems caused by forgetting step 19, the expert
has run a script and is on to more creative work.