Re: A couple of questions

["Marius Amado Alves" <amado.alves@netcabo.pt>]

Yeric <NOSPAM@NOSPAM.com> wrote in message
news:c6usqs$31m$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
> Hello,
>
> I am new to ADA95 but not to programming in general, I know a little
C/C++,
> but have a strong VB background.

Welcome! You can now start writing Ada not ADA as your first rite of passage
:-)

> I have been trying to move away from VB for a while now, I do not like the
> language (my explanations could cover a book, so I will spare you all),
> which is bizzare seeing as I know it so well, but then maybe it isnt so
> bizzare :)

Don't bother :-)

> I have been trying to get to grips with C++ for about 7 months, but have
> been struggling. with pointers or more precisely pointers to pointers and
> arrays of pointers to arrays of functions, my head feels like it is going
to
> melt at times.

A pointerless mind. Good. In Ada you very rarely need to use pointers
(called access types and values in Ada). And when you do she will work hard
to save you from shooting yourself in the foot. Ada 2005 will improve on
this camp further. With the standard container library, you can forget about
pointers entirely. Passing functions will be maximally simplified. Generics
will be more powerfull.

> I am in now way rubbishing C++ I believe that every programming language
has
> a niche, and fits somewhere, even VB for prototyping and small
applications.

Once you have the right environment setup, Ada is good for programming in
the small also. I do all my 'scripting' in Ada.

> I have read a few articles about Design by contract and find the concept
> interesting, and wondered how ADA is able to handle this if at all?

Generic units provide a LOT of contract.

> I have already had a good read of LAW tutorial and find the whole thing
very
> interesting, and ADA syntax to be fairly straightforward to follow.

The syntax is indeed very easy. And most of the language behaves as
expected. In some specific idioms the semantics gets in your way. Stay away
from limited types.

> I see there is also good support for interfacing with other applications,
> most noticeable COM/DCOM very useful if working in a Windows environment.

And there are alternatives. GWindows, JWEL, Claw, GtkAda.

> I am surprised not to see ADA so widely publicised like so many other well
> known programming languages around, I know there is plenty of info on the
> net, but not really anywhere else.

There are books. Good ones BTW.

> What niche does ADA fit into, I notice that it prides itself on embedded
> systems, does it have any other special areas apart from what I can see in
> military domains, or is it a good all rounder?

I use Ada for artificial intelligence, text processing, web systems,
database systems...

(A "couple of questions" uh? :-)