Re: Textbooks (Was: Decline?)

[<adaworks@sbcglobal.net>]

Ada Distilled includes a complete set of fully-coded programs that work.
When you use that book, be sure to also download the separate file that
includes the programs.   Then, you can present those programs in any
order you wish.

I have intended to update Ada Distilled for Ada 2005, but my time has
been taken by other duties.   If I am able to complete the major project
I am currently working on (in between my teaching duties) by the end
of June, I'll try to get started on an updated version of Ada Distilled.
Any work I do on it is unfunded and strictly a labor of love, so it needs
to take a lower priority than those duties that do help me pay my mortgage
and entertain my grandchildren.

Since Ada Distilled is in the public domain, I welcome any initiative to
update it by the community.   I don't make any money from it so it
belongs to everyone with an interest in Ada.

Richard Riehle
======================================================
"Peter C. Chapin" <pchapin@sover.net> wrote in message 
news:47da6400$0$1774$4d3efbfe@news.sover.net...
> Jacob Sparre Andersen wrote:
>
>> How does Burns' and Wellings' "Concurrent and Real-Time Programming in
>> Ada" compare to "Programming in Ada 2005" as a textbook?
>
> I don't think the Burns/Wellings book would make a good textbook... at least 
> not in a first course on Ada. It is too specialized and doesn't spend much 
> time talking about the non-tasking aspects of the language. It would probably 
> be wonderful for a correspondingly specialized course but for a general course 
> on Ada, it isn't really what one would want.
>
> I'm teaching Ada this semester and I am *not* using the Barnes book as the 
> text book. I considered doing so. However, the problem is that the Barnes book 
> is a bit too detailed; it contains all kinds of information that my first time 
> Ada programmers would probably find distracting and/or confusing. I did show 
> them the book in class and said, "If you are interested in going further with 
> Ada you should definitely get a copy of this book." A couple of them wrote 
> down the ISBN but I'm not sure if any of them did buy it.
>
> For a text book in my class I've been using some free resources such as the 
> Wikibook and "Ada Distilled." However, I haven't been entirely satisfied with 
> that. The problem is that those resources present the material in an order 
> that isn't compatible with my approach to teaching. Specifically they tend to 
> throw moderately advanced topics into the middle of discussions on more 
> elementary topics. Thus I have to tell my students, "read sections x, y, and 
> z, but skip subsections x.3, y.5, and the material on blah." These 
> instructions are more complicated than necessary and I'm sure they make the 
> readings seem a bit disconnected.
>
> I'm working with second year students so a nice textbook would be helpful. 
> When I teach the seniors I usually just say, "This material is covered in the 
> book," and leave it to them to figure out where. In that case a carefully 
> organized textbook is less necessary.
>
> Peter