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=-0.7 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP, NUMERIC_HTTP_ADDR autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,3885b7fd66a1db28 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-01-10 14:50:07 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsmi-us.news.garr.it!NewsITBone-GARR!news.mailgate.org!skynet.be!skynet.be!newsfeed.zip.com.au!spool01.syd.optusnet.com.au!spool.optusnet.com.au!not-for-mail Sender: israelrt@ENTROPY Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Why is Ada a good choice for an ambitious beginner to programming References: <5ad0dd8a.0212210251.63b87aba@posting.google.com> <3e140e05.3654845@news.demon.co.uk> <3E1E353A.3EC76758@adaworks.com> From: "u.r. faust" Date: 11 Jan 2003 09:47:49 -0800 Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.0808 (Gnus v5.8.8) XEmacs/21.4 (Military Intelligence (RC5 Windows)) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii NNTP-Posting-Host: 210.49.81.163 X-Trace: 1042238908 7817 210.49.81.163 Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:32896 Date: 2003-01-11T09:47:49-08:00 List-Id: "David Wright" writes: > Obviously, the devil is in the detail as to timing, > scope and sequence; an *in-depth* comparative analysis > would clearly be futile for a complete beginner, > perhaps even a 'false beginner'. The second or third year programming languages classes go into it in more detail. Have a look at some of the courses offered by the exmembers of the PLT at Rice. > It seems to me that even the notion of examining > different programming paradigms at an "entry" or > "beginner" level is anathema or at least a novel idea. No, it has been standard in computer science education for many years. Even in the 80's the first year undergrads at UNSW worked only in Miranda ( a FP language that has since been replaced by SML , ML and haskell ) > neither the MS Computer Dictionary nor Prentice Halls > Dictionary of Computing contains an entry for > 'imperative'. So ? And the MS Medical Dictionary and Prentice Halls Dictionary of Medicine for Dummies are unlikely to have angiogenesis factor or tropomyosin in their listings . However, even a first year med student would know what these are. University courses have a content that is fairly different from what the interested layman would read. Spinothalamic tract function is unlikely to interest a health/fitness fanatic while a med student who did not know about its anatomy, physiology and clinical effects of its lesions would deserve to fail. > And even after reading several > introduction to programming texts, e.g. Perry, Wang, > Dale, Hennefeld, I am none-the-wiser as to the precise > meaning of this elementary term and must surmise that > it is synonymous with 'structural' and subsumes > languages such as Basic, Pascal, Ada, and C. Actually no. In a nutshell, an imperative language contains the assignment statement. Remember the evil := in Pascal and Ada and = in C and Basic ? FPs do not use assignment. "In imperative programming, a name may be assigned to a value and later reassigned to another value. The collection of names and the associated values and the location of control in the program constitute the state. The state is a logical model of storage which is an association between memory locations and values. A program in execution generates a sequence of states The transition from one state to the next is determined by assignment operations and sequencing commands" http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:KbOmng6LCJ8C:cs.wwc.edu/~aabyan/221_2/PLBOOK/Imperative.html+imperative+programming&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 > With the self-teaching hobbyist and non-tertiary > inclined in mind, would it really be such an invidious > task for someone to condescend to write a "Comparative > Programming Paradigms and Languages" for (Inquisitive) > Dummies? <8-)) Try Programming Language Pragmatics by Scott ( can't see the initials on the boo spine from my chair :-) It is a nice book. -- natsu-gusa ya / tsuwamono-domo-ga / yume no ato summer grasses / strong ones / dreams site Summer grasses, All that remains Of soldier's dreams (Basho trans. Stryk)