Re: Pre-Ada95 books still worth reading

[wrp <i3text@gmail.com>]

On Jul 15, 6:33 am, Ada novice <shai.l...@gmx.com> wrote:
> Books I have seen:
>
> 1. Haberman. Ada for Experienced Programmers
> Compares Ada and Pascal side by side.

Yeah. The title should be _A Comparison of Ada and Pascal_. If that is
what you want, a review I read said that Haberman did a good job. The
question is whether the contents are now too dated.

> 2. Ford. Scientific Ada
> Discusses a few algorithms here and there but otherwise not much interesting.

I sometimes see questions from researchers trying to choose Fortran
vs. Ada for numerical work. This seems to be the only book-length
evaluation of Ada in that respect. I wonder how it compares to the
relevant parts of _Ada as a Second Language_ or _Programming in Ada
2005_.

Contents:
1. The Rationale for Ada
2. Ada as General Scientific Language
3. Ada and Fortran
4. Pascal to Ada Conversion
5. Ada and Other Scientific Languages: A Critique
6. Ada: Style and Recommendations
7. Ada: Numerics
8. Ada Packages
9. Ada: Error Mechanisms, Exceptions and Generics
10. Guidelines for the Design of Large Modular Scientific Libraries in
Ada

> Haven't seen this one:
> Pyle. Developing Safety Systems: A Guide Using Ada

Here are some snips from a review. Sounds like it might still have
some useful tidbits.

...The construction of software for critical systems is addressed in
three sections covering requirements analysis, design principles, and
quality assurance...

...The section on design deals with general principles of software
design, static structure using Ada packages, algorithm design in Ada,
and controlling devices in Ada...

...the author has a clear understanding of correctness, formality, and
rigor, concepts that sometimes suffer from poor explanation...