From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FREEMAIL_FROM autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,b0bb49d890f2dc77,start X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-06-12 12:27:01 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: rod_weston@yahoo.com (Rod Weston) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Thanks for the suggestions! Date: 12 Jun 2001 12:27:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 199.237.81.53 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 992374020 22322 127.0.0.1 (12 Jun 2001 19:27:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-support@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 12 Jun 2001 19:27:00 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:8622 Date: 2001-06-12T19:27:00+00:00 List-Id: Thanks everyone, for your assistance. I had also posted messages on the python and smalltalk groups for other perspectives and have arrived at the following conclusions. My objectives are to quickly learn and become productive in a language that properly supports Object Oriented Programming. I want to use free or inexpensive toolsets and I want to have a market for my efforts. I want strong typing because I believe, having worked in a language without typing, that it provides a strong deterrent to serious errors. I want a strong debugging tool, compile-time error trapping and very strong exception handling. I believe I have found the best language to satisfy those objectives in Ada. The real bonuses in Ada are the ability to generate code that is capable of communicating with JavaScript and Cobol (among others) and the speed of execution, provided I use the 'right' compiler **(I'm open to a lot more discussion of *that* topic)**. So I have begun to assemble my Win32 Ada95 environment with GNAT, AdaGide, GRASP, AdaSQL, GLADE, AdaCGI, GNATCOM, Lovelace, Learn Ada on the Web (LAW), Ada in Action (online book), Dale Stanbrough's Introduction to Ada, and Introducing Ada95 (Barnes). I've also downloaded what seem to be the preeminent source code libraries so I can see how the best go about programming in Ada. I mention these to encourage suggestions on a suitable professional learning environment. I also downloaded EMACS, but haven't been able to get the Ada 'personality' installed and I'm wondering if the AdaGIDE will be better for development than EMACS anyway. I'm not really excited about EMACS at this point. **What editors are being used and loved out there that have Ada configurations?** What did I learn from the Python and Smalltalk groups? That they each love their environments, that Python is too slow for serious consideration and that Smalltalk would be worthy of future consideration as an additional language - if I were the type that 'collected' languages, which I am not. Also, that Eiffel seems to be an excellent pure OOP language, but no one seems to be using it for professional development and, other than the distinction of being 'pure OOP', has no powerful arguments for its use over Ada. Further discussion?