Considering taking an ADA course at uni

Considering taking an ADA course at uni

[Zork]

Hi, im currently enrolled in a masters and noticed a "software engineering
and ADA" course available this coming semester. I actually didnt know
anything about ada up until a day ago when I noticed this course on offer. I
have previous experience in c++, fortran, and java. I am intending on doing
a project/thesis later on into the course on genetic algorithms. Would
anyone recommend this ada course? Is ada really that good? Will it help me
become a better programmer? (i know these are very general questions). The
course description is as follows:

------------
This course introduces the programming language ADA. Advanced functions and
procedures. Parameter passing in, out, in out. Problem solving through
modularisation. ADA packages. The concept of information hiding. Top-down
and bottom-up development and testing. Private declarations. Problem solving
by abstraction. Private data types and user-defined operations. Problem
solving in real-time systems, tasks, inter-task communication, task
synchronisation. Assumed Knowledge: ACSC704 Introduction to Programming or
equivalent.
-------------

I am a network engineer by trade, but have worked in the industry as a java
programmer (and c++/fortran at postgrad level).

Thanks for any help.

Zork.

Re: Considering taking an ADA course at uni

[Dmitry A. Kazakov]

On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 01:31:54 +0000, Zork wrote:

> Hi, im currently enrolled in a masters and noticed a "software engineering
> and ADA" course available this coming semester. I actually didnt know
> anything about ada up until a day ago when I noticed this course on offer. I
> have previous experience in c++, fortran, and java. I am intending on doing
> a project/thesis later on into the course on genetic algorithms. Would
> anyone recommend this ada course? Is ada really that good? Will it help me
> become a better programmer? (i know these are very general questions). The
> course description is as follows:
> 
> ------------
> This course introduces the programming language ADA. Advanced functions and
> procedures. Parameter passing in, out, in out. Problem solving through
> modularisation. ADA packages. The concept of information hiding. Top-down
> and bottom-up development and testing. Private declarations. Problem solving
> by abstraction. Private data types and user-defined operations. Problem
> solving in real-time systems, tasks, inter-task communication, task
> synchronisation. Assumed Knowledge: ACSC704 Introduction to Programming or
> equivalent.

The above looks a bit old-fashioned (Ada 83?). There are some very
important features of Ada left:

1. OO, tagged types, class-wide types, primitive operations, class-wide
ones. Ada's approach is quite different to C++, and more advanced, IMHO.

2. genericity, known in C++ as templates.

3. protected objects (a complementary to task rendevous view on
synchronization).

4. various numeric types

--
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de

Re: Considering taking an ADA course at uni

[Wojtek Narczynski]

"Zork" <Zork@z.com> wrote in message news:<57e2fa45142078b5f24fed4f75996ae0@news.teranews.com>...

> Would anyone recommend this ada course?

Yes, most people, if not all, on this list.

> Will it help me become a better programmer?

With all its strong typing and subtyping, modularization, etc., it
definitely will. Better programmer, or maybe even a better sotware
engineer! And even if you conclude that Ada sucks, it is good to know
your then enemy.

But I'd also recommend learining some basics of each of these:
- SML or O'Caml (type unions, higher order functions),
- Haskell (type classes),
- aldor (first class types),
- Eiffel (design by contract),
- VDM / Z / TLA+ (specification languages),
- LISP (syntax turns out to be of little relevance),
- prolog (what are your _goals_?),
- Ruby (need to do some very quick'n'dirty script).

Regards,
Wojtek

Re: Considering taking an ADA course at uni

[Mark Lorenzen]

wojtek@power.com.pl (Wojtek Narczynski) writes:

> "Zork" <Zork@z.com> wrote in message news:<57e2fa45142078b5f24fed4f75996ae0@news.teranews.com>...
> 
> > Would anyone recommend this ada course?
> 
> Yes, most people, if not all, on this list.
> 
> > Will it help me become a better programmer?
> 
> With all its strong typing and subtyping, modularization, etc., it
> definitely will. Better programmer, or maybe even a better sotware
> engineer! And even if you conclude that Ada sucks, it is good to know
> your then enemy.
> 
> But I'd also recommend learining some basics of each of these:
> - SML or O'Caml (type unions, higher order functions),
> - Haskell (type classes),
> - aldor (first class types),
> - Eiffel (design by contract),
> - VDM / Z / TLA+ (specification languages),
> - LISP (syntax turns out to be of little relevance),
> - prolog (what are your _goals_?),
> - Ruby (need to do some very quick'n'dirty script).
> 
> Regards,
> Wojtek

I am very happy to see SML, VDM, Z and TLA+ on your list. I would of
course like to add RSL and CSP also.

I don't know if anyone is actually using formal methods for real
(Praxis?), but as software engineers we must stand our ground and
fight for the engineering part in "software engineering".

Regards,
- Mark Lorenzen

Re: Considering taking an ADA course at uni

[Zork]

thanks everyone for your replies. i think i will enrol in the course