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* Learning Ada
@ 1985-09-03  2:46 Marty Sasaki
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Marty Sasaki @ 1985-09-03  2:46 UTC (permalink / raw)


I've decided that is time to learn Ada.  What's the best way to do
this?  Which books are interesting and useful?

I don't need to learn to program (I'm semi-fluent in C, Pascal,
FORTRAN, and have dabbled with Modula-2, CLU, and many more that I
can't remember).  I need to get an overview of the language, and a
glimpse of some of the paradigms.
-- 
----------------
  Marty Sasaki				net:   sasaki@harvard.{arpa,uucp}
  Havard University Science Center	phone: 617-495-1270
  One Oxford Street
  Cambridge, MA 02138

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
       [not found] <332@harvard.UUCP>
@ 1985-09-04 16:07 ` richw
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: richw @ 1985-09-04 16:07 UTC (permalink / raw)



A popular book here at Intermetrics (i.e. Ada compiler-writers)
is ``Software Engineering with Ada'', by Grady Booch
(The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co., Inc., 1983).

Other than its popularity, though, I can't say whether anything
else exists which is measurably better (having just started
learning myself).

Have fun...

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Learning Ada
@ 1985-09-06 15:10 Marty Sasaki
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Marty Sasaki @ 1985-09-06 15:10 UTC (permalink / raw)


I tried to reply to every message that I received, but the mailer
returned many as undeliverable. Sorry to post this.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for their recommendations and general
advice. I'll wander down to the Coop and look at the recommendations
in the next few days.

		Marty Sasaki

-- 
----------------
  Marty Sasaki				net:   sasaki@harvard.{arpa,uucp}
  Havard University Science Center	phone: 617-495-1270
  One Oxford Street
  Cambridge, MA 02138

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Learning ADA
@ 1989-06-15  1:48 Krishan M Nainani
  1989-06-15 14:19 ` Rosa Weber
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Krishan M Nainani @ 1989-06-15  1:48 UTC (permalink / raw)



I am interested in learning Ada. Can anyone recommend a good book
which is not VERY basic since I do know C and Pascal and have a
good knowledge of multi-processing.

Please reply to: tfrancis@wpi.wpi.edu

Krishan Nainani

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning ADA
  1989-06-15  1:48 Learning ADA Krishan M Nainani
@ 1989-06-15 14:19 ` Rosa Weber
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Rosa Weber @ 1989-06-15 14:19 UTC (permalink / raw)



Try "Software Engineering with ADA" (second edition), by Grady Booch,
The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1986.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: learning ada
       [not found] <36841f24.293012@news.ptd.net>
@ 1998-12-25  0:00 ` LeakyStain
  1998-12-26  0:00   ` David Botton
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: LeakyStain @ 1998-12-25  0:00 UTC (permalink / raw)


bob wrote:
> 
>         hey everyone, i am a student learning ADA at college right
> now. i am considering going for a master's degree in software
> engineering to go along with a BA in comp. engineering.  i have
> completed a course in ada, and will have one more course this next
> semester.  i really want to get a good knowledge of this language, but
> we never do anything like what everyone talks about in here because it
> is more advanced.  i was wondering what the best way to go about
> learning more in depth of the language, what is the best way?  thanks
> in advance

First, go to www.adahome.com, and browse around a bit, so you know what
sort of resources are available. Work thru the Lovelace tutorial, if you
haven't done that already. Buy one of the recommended books (my favorite
is Cohen's 'Ada as a Second Language'). 

Then pick a program you'd like to write; a card game, a spreadsheet,
whatever turns you on. Start writing it. You'll do it badly, but you
don't need to show it to anyone. Look up anything you don't know how to
do. When you're done, go back and fix it up, so it's more elegant, or
uses some feature of Ada you didn't use the first time (tagged types or
generics or Finalization). Most of all, keep it fun!

> 
> jarrod ross

-- Stephe




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: learning ada
  1998-12-25  0:00 ` learning ada LeakyStain
@ 1998-12-26  0:00   ` David Botton
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: David Botton @ 1998-12-26  0:00 UTC (permalink / raw)


Also check out www.botton.com/ada TheAda Source Code Treasury for examples
of code and join the mail list tehre so you get updates when new code is
added.

David Botton

LeakyStain wrote in message <36845EC8.6795772B@erols.com>...
>bob wrote:
>>
>>         hey everyone, i am a student learning ADA at college right
>> now. i am considering going for a master's degree in software
>> engineering to go along with a BA in comp. engineering.  i have
>> completed a course in ada, and will have one more course this next
>> semester.  i really want to get a good knowledge of this language, but
>> we never do anything like what everyone talks about in here because it
>> is more advanced.  i was wondering what the best way to go about
>> learning more in depth of the language, what is the best way?  thanks
>> in advance
>
>First, go to www.adahome.com, and browse around a bit, so you know what
>sort of resources are available. Work thru the Lovelace tutorial, if you
>haven't done that already. Buy one of the recommended books (my favorite
>is Cohen's 'Ada as a Second Language').
>
>Then pick a program you'd like to write; a card game, a spreadsheet,
>whatever turns you on. Start writing it. You'll do it badly, but you
>don't need to show it to anyone. Look up anything you don't know how to
>do. When you're done, go back and fix it up, so it's more elegant, or
>uses some feature of Ada you didn't use the first time (tagged types or
>generics or Finalization). Most of all, keep it fun!
>
>>
>> jarrod ross
>
>-- Stephe






^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-03  7:12         ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) Jacob Sparre Andersen
@ 2009-07-03  8:38           ` Peter Hermann
  2009-07-03  9:44             ` Georg Bauhaus
  2009-07-03 22:20           ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) anon
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Peter Hermann @ 2009-07-03  8:38 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jacob Sparre Andersen <sparre@nbi.dk> wrote:
> It might be to push things a bit too far, but I think it would be
> beneficial, if the types Float and Integer were removed from the
> language.

caveat.
pragmatism needs them due to a lot of reasons:
I would need a full day to list them.



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-03  8:38           ` Learning Ada Peter Hermann
@ 2009-07-03  9:44             ` Georg Bauhaus
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Georg Bauhaus @ 2009-07-03  9:44 UTC (permalink / raw)


Peter Hermann schrieb:
> Jacob Sparre Andersen <sparre@nbi.dk> wrote:
>> It might be to push things a bit too far, but I think it would be
>> beneficial, if the types Float and Integer were removed from the
>> language.
> 
> caveat.
> pragmatism needs them due to a lot of reasons:
> I would need a full day to list them.

I can't help thinking that claiming "pragmatism" to
be a quality of Standard.Integer use is what laziness
would like it to be, no offence intended:
Effects of predefined types will make people debug
and rewrite, sooner or later, as seen. Using C, you
are almost forced to use int from the C standard very
often, if only because C culture makes C programmers
frown upon better types like int wrapped in a struct
or like using enum where appropriate.
You Get Things Done (TM) very quickly this way--it's just
that Things vanish under some carpet to rot and "develop".

Imagine an Ada culture without Float and Integer.
Would Ada programmers (possibly grouped by prior
exposure to other type systems) start writing

package Everywhere is

   type Integer is range -(2**31) .. +(2**31) -1 ;
     -- be pragmatic

   type Float ...;
     -- be pragmatic

end Everywhere;

and use only these types in their programs?

Alternatives include Copy&Paset or boiler plate macros: have
your editor prompt for the range bounds of a user defined
integer type when needed, and make it insert the definition.
Done.



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-05 23:21               ` anon
@ 2009-07-06  0:19                 ` Albrecht Käfer
  2009-07-06  2:50                   ` anon
  2009-07-06 10:53                 ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) Georg Bauhaus
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Albrecht Käfer @ 2009-07-06  0:19 UTC (permalink / raw)


anon schrieb:
>         But some people like "Ludovic Brenta, state that most Ada programmers
> would prefer to create their own types. In some case, that goes against the RM
> because it can create a non-standardize form of an Ada programs, that violate
> other RM rules.

It would be really smashing if you could provide some sort of proof for
this bold claim.

> Plus, the RM states that a number of numeric types are
> predefined, such as "Integer", and it subtypes "Natural" and "Positive" as
> well the type "Float" and its subtypes.
> Redefining those predefines types are
> legal in Ada, by simply re-defining the type.

... no? Standard.Integer et al cannot be redefined. You can change the
underlying compiler, but then you could also change "begin" to "start".

> Like for example, using 24 bit integer:
>
>     type Integer is range -2 ** 24 .. +2 ** ( 24 - 1 ) ;
>
> To use this new definition of "Integer", globally it needs to be define in the
> standard package,

Now how would you go around doing that?

> but for a single package or routine it better to create a new
> type or subtype and for the routine or package. But in most programming this
> is not necessary. That is, since Ada creation and the DOD dropping it full
> support of Ada, the usage for redefining the numeric data types is almost nil,
> not the norm any more.  Plus, the DOD require full documentation on all new
> define types.

Why should we care about what the DoD requires again?

>         Now, "Rob Solomon" stated that he think "it would be beneficial, if
> the types Float and Integer were removed from the language".

That is a personal opinion, not a law of nature.

>         Second, the predefined types allow for the program to be more portable,
> because a users type might not be accepted on the new system. But using the
> standards or creating a subtype from the standards is better. An example is:
>
>     type Integer is range -2 ** 256 .. +2 ** ( 256 - 1 ) ;
>
> which is a valid Ada statement but in a 32-bit and most 64-bit system this
> type is not allowed.

There's nothing stopping you from creating a special Ada compiler
supporting arbitrary-length integers.


Albrecht



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06  0:19                 ` Learning Ada Albrecht Käfer
@ 2009-07-06  2:50                   ` anon
  2009-07-06  6:18                     ` AdaMagica
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: anon @ 2009-07-06  2:50 UTC (permalink / raw)


Wrong!
--
--  Just to show how easy it is redefining an Integer. Or the 
--  Standard package.  Compiled with GNAT < 2010 
--
with Ada.Text_IO ;
with Standard ; -- require for redefining Standard package

procedure Temp is

  use Ada.Text_IO ;

begin

  declare 

    package Integer_IO is new
                          Ada.Text_IO.Integer_IO ( Integer ) ;
    use Integer_IO ;

  begin
      New_Line ;
      Put_line ( "Integer predefined limits" ) ;
      Put ( "Range => ( " ) ;
      Put ( Integer'First ) ;
      Put ( " .. " ) ;
      Put ( Integer'Last ) ;
      Put_Line ( " ) " ) ;
      New_Line ;
  end ;

  --
  -- Now redefine the type Integer.
  --
  declare 
 
    type Integer is range -2 ** 8 ..  2 ** 8 - 1  ;

    package Integer_IO is new Ada.Text_IO.Integer_IO ( Integer ) ;
    use Integer_IO ;

  begin
      New_Line ;
      Put_line ( "Integer redefined limits" ) ;
      Put ( "Range => ( " ) ;
      Put ( Integer'First ) ;
      Put ( " .. " ) ;
      Put ( Integer'Last ) ;
      Put_Line ( " ) " ) ;
      New_Line ;
  end ;

  --
  -- Using a new Standard package
  --

  declare 

    package Integer_IO is new
                          Ada.Text_IO.Integer_IO ( Standard.Integer ) ;
    use Integer_IO ;

  begin
      New_Line ;
      Put_line ( "Integer limits from a new Standard package" ) ;
      Put ( "Range => ( " ) ;
      Put ( Standard.Integer'First ) ;
      Put ( " .. " ) ;
      Put ( Standard.Integer'Last ) ;
      Put_Line ( " ) " ) ;
      New_Line ;
  end ;
end Temp ;


--
--  This will compile under current GNAT < 2010.  Package cut down 
--  because the complete version is too long and is not needed to 
--  make the point. But all other types and operations will fall back to 
--  GNAT built-in Standard package aka for GNAT its universal Standard
--  package.
--
package STANDARD is 

  -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined.  

  type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;

end STANDARD ; 


In <h2rgg8$blq$1@online.de>, Albrecht =?ISO-8859-1?Q?K=E4fer?= <albrecht_kaefer@yahoo.de> writes:
>anon schrieb:
>>         But some people like "Ludovic Brenta, state that most Ada programmers
>> would prefer to create their own types. In some case, that goes against the RM
>> because it can create a non-standardize form of an Ada programs, that violate
>> other RM rules.
>
>It would be really smashing if you could provide some sort of proof for
>this bold claim.
>
>> Plus, the RM states that a number of numeric types are
>> predefined, such as "Integer", and it subtypes "Natural" and "Positive" as
>> well the type "Float" and its subtypes.
>> Redefining those predefines types are
>> legal in Ada, by simply re-defining the type.
>
>.... no? Standard.Integer et al cannot be redefined. You can change the
>underlying compiler, but then you could also change "begin" to "start".
>
>> Like for example, using 24 bit integer:
>>
>>     type Integer is range -2 ** 24 .. +2 ** ( 24 - 1 ) ;
>>
>> To use this new definition of "Integer", globally it needs to be define in the
>> standard package,
>
>Now how would you go around doing that?
>
>> but for a single package or routine it better to create a new
>> type or subtype and for the routine or package. But in most programming this
>> is not necessary. That is, since Ada creation and the DOD dropping it full
>> support of Ada, the usage for redefining the numeric data types is almost nil,
>> not the norm any more.  Plus, the DOD require full documentation on all new
>> define types.
>
>Why should we care about what the DoD requires again?
>
>>         Now, "Rob Solomon" stated that he think "it would be beneficial, if
>> the types Float and Integer were removed from the language".
>
>That is a personal opinion, not a law of nature.
>
>>         Second, the predefined types allow for the program to be more portable,
>> because a users type might not be accepted on the new system. But using the
>> standards or creating a subtype from the standards is better. An example is:
>>
>>     type Integer is range -2 ** 256 .. +2 ** ( 256 - 1 ) ;
>>
>> which is a valid Ada statement but in a 32-bit and most 64-bit system this
>> type is not allowed.
>
>There's nothing stopping you from creating a special Ada compiler
>supporting arbitrary-length integers.
>
>
>Albrecht




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06  2:50                   ` anon
@ 2009-07-06  6:18                     ` AdaMagica
  2009-07-06  7:47                       ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
  2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: AdaMagica @ 2009-07-06  6:18 UTC (permalink / raw)


Oh my dear anon, you are so wrong again.

> package STANDARD is
>
>   -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined.  
>
>   type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>
> end STANDARD;

You do *not* redefine Standard with this declaration, you simply hide
it.

with Standard;

procedure Temp is  -- Here you will get into troubled water.

  X: Integer;  -- this is still the integer from the predefined
package Standard
  Y: STANDARD.Integer;  -- this is your INTEGER

  use Standard;

  Z: Integer := 2;  -- oh lord, what's this now?

  -- I'm not sure and I'm reluctant to do the RM exegesis to find out.
I *guess* it's your INTEGER;

  I: Integer := Z**3;  -- subtype of 3 is still the Integer defined in
                       -- the predefined Standard you've hidden
  J: Integer := Z**Z;  -- This should then be illegal because the
subtype of the right operand of **
                       -- must be the one from the hidden Standard.

end Temp;

Point is: You cannot redefine Standard! Full stop.

I invite you to find the relevant paragraphs in the RM which state
what will happen when you define a package named Standard.

And please be careful to not mix up a subtype and the type of the
subtype and the type of numeric literals. They are all different.



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06  6:18                     ` AdaMagica
@ 2009-07-06  7:47                       ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
  2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jean-Pierre Rosen @ 2009-07-06  7:47 UTC (permalink / raw)


AdaMagica a �crit :
> Oh my dear anon, you are so wrong again.
> 
>> package STANDARD is
>>
>>   -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined.  
>>
>>   type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>>
>> end STANDARD;
> 
> You do *not* redefine Standard with this declaration, you simply hide
> it.
> 
> with Standard;
> 
> procedure Temp is  -- Here you will get into troubled water.
> 
>   X: Integer;  -- this is still the integer from the predefined
> package Standard
>   Y: STANDARD.Integer;  -- this is your INTEGER
> 
>   use Standard;
> 
>   Z: Integer := 2;  -- oh lord, what's this now?
> 
>   -- I'm not sure and I'm reluctant to do the RM exegesis to find out.
> I *guess* it's your INTEGER;
No, it's the one from the real Standard.

The rule is simple: "use" is weak. It comes into play only if nothing
gets in the way (like a similar name that is directly visible, or
declared in another used package).

The regular Standard is always /directly/ visible, therefore a use
clause never brings something in front of something from the regular
Standard.
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
           J-P. Rosen (rosen@adalog.fr)
Visit Adalog's web site at http://www.adalog.fr



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06  6:18                     ` AdaMagica
  2009-07-06  7:47                       ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
@ 2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
  2009-07-06 21:08                         ` Georg Bauhaus
  2009-07-06 22:43                         ` Frank J. Lhota
  1 sibling, 2 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: anon @ 2009-07-06 20:21 UTC (permalink / raw)


Yes, I did redefine apart of Standard. Found this out back in the mid 1990 
while testing GNAT 3.0x for a number of projects. Its also, one way (not the 
best, but it is quick) of porting code from a 32-bit system down to a 16 or 
8 bit system. Like using Intel Core i7 system to write code for an Intel 
8086 system, which can use the same basic (non-protective mode) 
instruction set. 

Also, rewriting any Ada package is allowable within the scope of the RM 
(in some implementation it maybe required). And if I add a body for the 
Standard package and uncommented the an operators I could of made the 
operator do what I wanted it to do. Like having all Boolean operators 
return FALSE. 

This process does not hide the built-in Standard package, its still there for 
the system to handle the other types, such as the Character or 
Wide_Character set, which can be a headache to define.


In <ba7f8fc3-e386-49cc-a1fb-e53f7e1f04bf@d32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, AdaMagica <christoph.grein@eurocopter.com> writes:
>Oh my dear anon, you are so wrong again.
>
>> package STANDARD is
>>
>> =A0 -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined. =A0
>>
>> =A0 type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>>
>> end STANDARD;
>
>You do *not* redefine Standard with this declaration, you simply hide
>it.
>
>with Standard;
>
>procedure Temp is  -- Here you will get into troubled water.
>
>  X: Integer;  -- this is still the integer from the predefined
>package Standard
>  Y: STANDARD.Integer;  -- this is your INTEGER
>
>  use Standard;
>
>  Z: Integer :=3D 2;  -- oh lord, what's this now?
>
>  -- I'm not sure and I'm reluctant to do the RM exegesis to find out.
>I *guess* it's your INTEGER;
>
>  I: Integer :=3D Z**3;  -- subtype of 3 is still the Integer defined in
>                       -- the predefined Standard you've hidden
>  J: Integer :=3D Z**Z;  -- This should then be illegal because the
>subtype of the right operand of **
>                       -- must be the one from the hidden Standard.
>
>end Temp;
>
>Point is: You cannot redefine Standard! Full stop.
>
>I invite you to find the relevant paragraphs in the RM which state
>what will happen when you define a package named Standard.
>
>And please be careful to not mix up a subtype and the type of the
>subtype and the type of numeric literals. They are all different.




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06 19:34                   ` anon
@ 2009-07-06 20:29                     ` Albrecht Käfer
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Albrecht Käfer @ 2009-07-06 20:29 UTC (permalink / raw)


anon schrieb:
> Now, A integer may change it range when switching from a 16-bit system to a
> 64-bit system, but the 16-bit code will work because the range of a 16-bit
> integer is a subrange of a 64-bit integer. Else, throw the CPU and the
> programmer out the window. Yes, a programmer can make a misstate that
> causes error, but that not Ada fault. it time to replace that bad programmer.

You're forgetting the embedded market. There may be good reasons to
downgrade from a 32-bit to a 16-bit (or even 8-bit) system. Power
consumption, resistance to radiation or simply the price come to mind.


Albrecht



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
@ 2009-07-06 21:08                         ` Georg Bauhaus
  2009-07-06 22:43                         ` Frank J. Lhota
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Georg Bauhaus @ 2009-07-06 21:08 UTC (permalink / raw)


anon wrote:
> Yes, I did redefine apart of Standard. Found this out back in the mid 1990 
> while testing GNAT 3.0x for a number of projects. Its also, one way (not the 
> best, but it is quick) of porting code from a 32-bit system down to a 16 or 
> 8 bit system. Like using Intel Core i7 system to write code for an Intel 
> 8086 system, which can use the same basic (non-protective mode) 
> instruction set. 

So you are proving our point that using Standard.Integer
has created a need to replace Standard.Integer with a
different integer type that helps porting?

Wouldn't it have been better if the programmers
had not used Standard.Integer in the first place,
where possible?



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
  2009-07-06 21:08                         ` Georg Bauhaus
@ 2009-07-06 22:43                         ` Frank J. Lhota
  2009-07-09 22:28                           ` anon
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Frank J. Lhota @ 2009-07-06 22:43 UTC (permalink / raw)


anon wrote:
> Yes, I did redefine apart of Standard. Found this out back in the mid 1990 
> while testing GNAT 3.0x for a number of projects. Its also, one way (not the 
> best, but it is quick) of porting code from a 32-bit system down to a 16 or 
> 8 bit system. Like using Intel Core i7 system to write code for an Intel 
> 8086 system, which can use the same basic (non-protective mode) 
> instruction set. 

No, you did not re-define a part of Standard. Keep in mind that all of 
the compilation units you write is enclosed in the Standard package. As 
a result, every Ada name can be expanded to something of the form 
"Standard.*".

When you wrote the package Standard as presented above, what you really 
did was add a package named Standard *within* the pre-defined package 
Standard, i.e. the result was something like this:

-- Ada LRM Standard
package Standard is

     ...
     type Integer is range ...;
     ...

     -- Your Standard package
     package Standard is
         type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
     end Standard;

end Standard;

In other words, you've created the new type Standard.Standard.Integer, 
which is a separate type from Standard.Integer.

> Also, rewriting any Ada package is allowable within the scope of the RM 
> (in some implementation it maybe required). And if I add a body for the 
> Standard package and uncommented the an operators I could of made the 
> operator do what I wanted it to do. Like having all Boolean operators 
> return FALSE. 

LRM A.2 (4) specifically prohibit the compilation of a child of package 
Ada in standard mode. I believe that some implementations would squawk 
if you tried to replace parts of System, especially since doing so could 
break other pre-defined units.

> This process does not hide the built-in Standard package, its still there for 
> the system to handle the other types, such as the Character or 
> Wide_Character set, which can be a headache to define.

Well, it does create some confusion. I would definitely *not* recommend 
naming a unit Standard.

> 
> In <ba7f8fc3-e386-49cc-a1fb-e53f7e1f04bf@d32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, AdaMagica <christoph.grein@eurocopter.com> writes:
>> Oh my dear anon, you are so wrong again.
>>
>>> package STANDARD is
>>>
>>> =A0 -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined. =A0
>>>
>>> =A0 type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>>>
>>> end STANDARD;
>> You do *not* redefine Standard with this declaration, you simply hide
>> it.
>>
>> with Standard;
>>
>> procedure Temp is  -- Here you will get into troubled water.
>>
>>  X: Integer;  -- this is still the integer from the predefined
>> package Standard
>>  Y: STANDARD.Integer;  -- this is your INTEGER
>>
>>  use Standard;
>>
>>  Z: Integer :=3D 2;  -- oh lord, what's this now?
>>
>>  -- I'm not sure and I'm reluctant to do the RM exegesis to find out.
>> I *guess* it's your INTEGER;
>>
>>  I: Integer :=3D Z**3;  -- subtype of 3 is still the Integer defined in
>>                       -- the predefined Standard you've hidden
>>  J: Integer :=3D Z**Z;  -- This should then be illegal because the
>> subtype of the right operand of **
>>                       -- must be the one from the hidden Standard.
>>
>> end Temp;
>>
>> Point is: You cannot redefine Standard! Full stop.
>>
>> I invite you to find the relevant paragraphs in the RM which state
>> what will happen when you define a package named Standard.
>>
>> And please be careful to not mix up a subtype and the type of the
>> subtype and the type of numeric literals. They are all different.
> 


-- 
"All things extant in this world,
Gods of Heaven, gods of Earth,
Let everything be as it should be;
Thus shall it be!"
- Magical chant from "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi"

"Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome,
Time for this one to come home!"
- Mr. Wizard from "Tooter Turtle"



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-06 22:43                         ` Frank J. Lhota
@ 2009-07-09 22:28                           ` anon
  2009-07-10  6:23                             ` AdaMagica
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: anon @ 2009-07-09 22:28 UTC (permalink / raw)


If Ada RM A.2 ( 4 ), applied here, then Adacore / GNAT would not allow one 
to compile the a Standard package. When compiling the Ada.* you must use 
"-gnatpg", command option, but compiling the Standard package is as easy 
as compiling any non-vendor or Ada package.

Actually I wrote the complete Standards package for both Ada 83 and 95 
including a body that use System.Machine_Code for the routines base on the 
Ada 83 and Ada 95 specs.  

And these routines could be used for embeded processors, but the main code 
would still be generated by the GCC backend.

In <h2tun7$bpp$1@news.albasani.net>, "Frank J. Lhota" <FrankLho.NOSPAM@rcn.com> writes:
>anon wrote:
>> Yes, I did redefine apart of Standard. Found this out back in the mid 1990 
>> while testing GNAT 3.0x for a number of projects. Its also, one way (not the 
>> best, but it is quick) of porting code from a 32-bit system down to a 16 or 
>> 8 bit system. Like using Intel Core i7 system to write code for an Intel 
>> 8086 system, which can use the same basic (non-protective mode) 
>> instruction set. 
>
>No, you did not re-define a part of Standard. Keep in mind that all of 
>the compilation units you write is enclosed in the Standard package. As 
>a result, every Ada name can be expanded to something of the form 
>"Standard.*".
>
>When you wrote the package Standard as presented above, what you really 
>did was add a package named Standard *within* the pre-defined package 
>Standard, i.e. the result was something like this:
>
>-- Ada LRM Standard
>package Standard is
>
>     ...
>     type Integer is range ...;
>     ...
>
>     -- Your Standard package
>     package Standard is
>         type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>     end Standard;
>
>end Standard;
>
>In other words, you've created the new type Standard.Standard.Integer, 
>which is a separate type from Standard.Integer.
>
>> Also, rewriting any Ada package is allowable within the scope of the RM 
>> (in some implementation it maybe required). And if I add a body for the 
>> Standard package and uncommented the an operators I could of made the 
>> operator do what I wanted it to do. Like having all Boolean operators 
>> return FALSE. 
>
>LRM A.2 (4) specifically prohibit the compilation of a child of package 
>Ada in standard mode. I believe that some implementations would squawk 
>if you tried to replace parts of System, especially since doing so could 
>break other pre-defined units.
>
>> This process does not hide the built-in Standard package, its still there for 
>> the system to handle the other types, such as the Character or 
>> Wide_Character set, which can be a headache to define.
>
>Well, it does create some confusion. I would definitely *not* recommend 
>naming a unit Standard.
>
>> 
>> In <ba7f8fc3-e386-49cc-a1fb-e53f7e1f04bf@d32g2000yqh.googlegroups.com>, AdaMagica <christoph.grein@eurocopter.com> writes:
>>> Oh my dear anon, you are so wrong again.
>>>
>>>> package STANDARD is
>>>>
>>>> =A0 -- The universal type universal_integer is predefined. =A0
>>>>
>>>> =A0 type INTEGER is range - 2 ** 63 .. ( 2 ** 63 ) - 1 ;
>>>>
>>>> end STANDARD;
>>> You do *not* redefine Standard with this declaration, you simply hide
>>> it.
>>>
>>> with Standard;
>>>
>>> procedure Temp is  -- Here you will get into troubled water.
>>>
>>>  X: Integer;  -- this is still the integer from the predefined
>>> package Standard
>>>  Y: STANDARD.Integer;  -- this is your INTEGER
>>>
>>>  use Standard;
>>>
>>>  Z: Integer :=3D 2;  -- oh lord, what's this now?
>>>
>>>  -- I'm not sure and I'm reluctant to do the RM exegesis to find out.
>>> I *guess* it's your INTEGER;
>>>
>>>  I: Integer :=3D Z**3;  -- subtype of 3 is still the Integer defined in
>>>                       -- the predefined Standard you've hidden
>>>  J: Integer :=3D Z**Z;  -- This should then be illegal because the
>>> subtype of the right operand of **
>>>                       -- must be the one from the hidden Standard.
>>>
>>> end Temp;
>>>
>>> Point is: You cannot redefine Standard! Full stop.
>>>
>>> I invite you to find the relevant paragraphs in the RM which state
>>> what will happen when you define a package named Standard.
>>>
>>> And please be careful to not mix up a subtype and the type of the
>>> subtype and the type of numeric literals. They are all different.
>> 
>
>
>-- 
>"All things extant in this world,
>Gods of Heaven, gods of Earth,
>Let everything be as it should be;
>Thus shall it be!"
>- Magical chant from "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi"
>
>"Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome,
>Time for this one to come home!"
>- Mr. Wizard from "Tooter Turtle"




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2009-07-09 22:28                           ` anon
@ 2009-07-10  6:23                             ` AdaMagica
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: AdaMagica @ 2009-07-10  6:23 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 10 Jul., 00:28, a...@anon.org (anon) wrote:
> If Ada RM A.2 ( 4 ), applied here, then Adacore / GNAT would not allow one
> to compile the a Standard package. When compiling the Ada.* you must use
> "-gnatpg", command option, but compiling the Standard package is as easy
> as compiling any non-vendor or Ada package.

A.2(4) In the standard mode, it is illegal to compile a child of
package Ada.

So what on earth are you talking about? Your Standard package is not a
child of Ada nor is the RM package Standard a child of Ada.

Any user-written library unit, so also your Standard, can ve viewed as
a child of the RM Standard, as Frank Lhota has explained. No one
claimed that it was illegal in standard mode to compile a package
called Standard.

Do you ever take the time to understand other's posts?



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Learning Ada
@ 2010-07-24 14:21 Frederick Williams
  2010-07-24 16:21 ` Simon Wright
  2010-07-25 20:33 ` mockturtle
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Frederick Williams @ 2010-07-24 14:21 UTC (permalink / raw)


I wish to learn Ada(*) so I am looking for a free compiler to run on
Windows XP.  Any suggestions?

(* Do you really?  Yes, really.)
-- 
I can't go on, I'll go on.



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2010-07-24 14:21 Frederick Williams
@ 2010-07-24 16:21 ` Simon Wright
  2010-07-25 20:33 ` mockturtle
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Simon Wright @ 2010-07-24 16:21 UTC (permalink / raw)


Frederick Williams <frederick.williams2@tesco.net> writes:

> I wish to learn Ada(*) so I am looking for a free compiler to run on
> Windows XP.  Any suggestions?

http://libre.adacore.com/

> (* Do you really?  Yes, really.)

Good for you!



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2010-07-24 14:21 Frederick Williams
  2010-07-24 16:21 ` Simon Wright
@ 2010-07-25 20:33 ` mockturtle
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: mockturtle @ 2010-07-25 20:33 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 24 Lug, 16:21, Frederick Williams <frederick.willia...@tesco.net>
wrote:
> I wish to learn Ada(*) so I am looking for a free compiler to run on
> Windows XP.  Any suggestions?
>
> (* Do you really?  Yes, really.)
> --
> I can't go on, I'll go on.

Welcome aboard!



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Learning Ada
@ 2020-09-15 10:36 Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 14:31 ` Anders Wirzenius
  2020-09-15 17:01 ` Simon Wright
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-09-15 10:36 UTC (permalink / raw)


I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is dead.
Thanks in Advance!

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 10:36 Learning Ada Jack Davy
@ 2020-09-15 14:31 ` Anders Wirzenius
  2020-09-15 15:07   ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 17:01 ` Simon Wright
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Anders Wirzenius @ 2020-09-15 14:31 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <jules1.davy@gmail.com> writes:

> I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft
> of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are
> plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada
> 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was
> wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of
> chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is
> dead.
> Thanks in Advance!

Maybe this helps:

http://archive.adaic.com/docs/craft/craft.html

-- 
Anders

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 14:31 ` Anders Wirzenius
@ 2020-09-15 15:07   ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 15:54     ` Ludovic Brenta
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-09-15 15:07 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 3:32:00 PM UTC+1, Anders Wirzenius wrote:
> Jack Davy <jules...@gmail.com> writes: 
> 
> > I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft 
> > of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are 
> > plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada 
> > 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was 
> > wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of 
> > chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is 
> > dead. 
> > Thanks in Advance!
> Maybe this helps: 
> 
> http://archive.adaic.com/docs/craft/craft.html 
> 
> -- 
> Anders
Thanks Anders, but I already found that link. The download has the code for the book, but no answers. I guess it's not important, I just thought it would be nice to see some sample solutions. 

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 15:07   ` Jack Davy
@ 2020-09-15 15:54     ` Ludovic Brenta
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Ludovic Brenta @ 2020-09-15 15:54 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <algojack@tutanota.com> writes:
> On Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 3:32:00 PM UTC+1, Anders Wirzenius wrote:
>> Jack Davy <jules...@gmail.com> writes: 
>> 
>> > I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft 
>> > of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are 
>> > plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada 
>> > 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was 
>> > wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of 
>> > chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is 
>> > dead. 
>> > Thanks in Advance!
>> Maybe this helps: 
>> 
>> http://archive.adaic.com/docs/craft/craft.html 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Anders
> Thanks Anders, but I already found that link. The download has the
> code for the book, but no answers. I guess it's not important, I just
> thought it would be nice to see some sample solutions.

I don't have an answer to your exact question but there is no shortage
of "sample solutions" in Ada on https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:Ada

HTH

PS. I still consider John English's book to be the best introduction to
Ada.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 10:36 Learning Ada Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 14:31 ` Anders Wirzenius
@ 2020-09-15 17:01 ` Simon Wright
  2020-09-15 17:07   ` Simon Wright
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Simon Wright @ 2020-09-15 17:01 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <jules1.davy@gmail.com> writes:

> I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft
> of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are
> plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada
> 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was
> wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of
> chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is
> dead.

Try here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8k4xxpj5a67s752/adacraft.tar.gz?dl=0

Nothing like being a pack rat! my hard disk copy is dated 2012-8-25, but
I don't know when I retrieved it, must ahve been several computers
ago. Internal dates up to 2001-07-27. Readme says examples tested with
GNAT 3.13p!

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 17:01 ` Simon Wright
@ 2020-09-15 17:07   ` Simon Wright
  2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Simon Wright @ 2020-09-15 17:07 UTC (permalink / raw)


Simon Wright <simon@pushface.org> writes:

> Jack Davy <jules1.davy@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft
>> of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are
>> plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada
>> 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was
>> wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of
>> chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is
>> dead.
>
> Try here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8k4xxpj5a67s752/adacraft.tar.gz?dl=0
>
> Nothing like being a pack rat! my hard disk copy is dated 2012-8-25, but
> I don't know when I retrieved it, must ahve been several computers
> ago. Internal dates up to 2001-07-27. Readme says examples tested with
> GNAT 3.13p!

Actually, they are at adaic.com:
http://archive.adaic.com/docs/craft/craft.html, see the third bullet point.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 17:07   ` Simon Wright
@ 2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 19:28       ` Gautier write-only
                         ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-09-15 19:03 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 6:07:16 PM UTC+1, Simon Wright wrote:
> Simon Wright <si...@pushface.org> writes: 
> 
> > Jack Davy <jules...@gmail.com> writes: 
> > 
> >> I've just started learning Ada and am using the book "Ada95: The Craft 
> >> of Object Oriented Programming", by John English. I know there are 
> >> plenty of other resources such as the one on Adacore, which covers Ada 
> >> 2012, but I like the style and flow of this book. Anyway, I was 
> >> wondering whether anyone in the group has the answers to the end of 
> >> chapter exercises? The author has now retired and the link to them is 
> >> dead. 
> > 
> > Try here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8k4xxpj5a67s752/adacraft.tar.gz?dl=0 
> > 
> > Nothing like being a pack rat! my hard disk copy is dated 2012-8-25, but 
> > I don't know when I retrieved it, must ahve been several computers 
> > ago. Internal dates up to 2001-07-27. Readme says examples tested with 
> > GNAT 3.13p!
> Actually, they are at adaic.com: 
> http://archive.adaic.com/docs/craft/craft.html, see the third bullet point.

@ Ludovic, thanks for the link to rosettacode; very good source of examples. And good to hear that you rate the book highly. There don't seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by "The Craft".  https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271

@ Simon, thanks, but I already have that file. It contains all the code in the book but not the answers to the end of chapter questions. 

By the way, I see the author also wrote a GUI libary for Ada called JEWL, the files for which I have also downloaded. Pity it's for Windows only. I'm a Linux user although I do have Win XP on VirtualBox, but I don't believe the current GNAT compiler will run on it.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
@ 2020-09-15 19:28       ` Gautier write-only
  2020-09-15 23:00       ` Jerry Petrey
  2020-09-16  1:23       ` Paul Rubin
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Gautier write-only @ 2020-09-15 19:28 UTC (permalink / raw)


Other sample sources:
Ada resources:
  - https://sourceforge.net/directory/language:ada/
  - https://www.adaic.org/ada-resources/

Small samples are embedded in the LEA editor (you can run it from Wine):
  https://sourceforge.net/projects/l-e-a/

From the menu: Action / Code sample. Choose your sample. Hit F9 for running.
Some samples stem from Rosetta Code BTW :-)

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 19:28       ` Gautier write-only
@ 2020-09-15 23:00       ` Jerry Petrey
  2020-09-16  1:23       ` Paul Rubin
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jerry Petrey @ 2020-09-15 23:00 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 9/15/20 12:03, Jack Davy wrote:

> By the way, I see the author also wrote a GUI libary for Ada called JEWL, the files for which I have also downloaded. Pity it's for Windows only. I'm a Linux user although I do have Win XP on VirtualBox, but I don't believe the current GNAT compiler will run on it.
> 

Yes, his JEWL package is great. I used it many times to create Windows 
GUI apps and still use it some. I talked to John a number of times - he 
was very helpful. His book is one of the best!

Jerry

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-15 19:28       ` Gautier write-only
  2020-09-15 23:00       ` Jerry Petrey
@ 2020-09-16  1:23       ` Paul Rubin
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
  2 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Paul Rubin @ 2020-09-16  1:23 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <algojack@tutanota.com> writes:
> seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for
> beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by
> "The Craft".  https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271

I haven't examined that book directly but based on the preview and
blurb, it does seem to be beginner oriented, thus likely to have gaps of
its own.  If you're trying to fill gaps, you probably want something
more complete and advanced.

I semi-recently got another book that looks very good, though it's still
sitting around without my having read much of it: Analysable Real-Time
Systems: Programmed in Ada, by Andy Wellings and Alan Burns.  It is
basically an updated reprint of an older book by the same authors,
self-published in paperback, so it is a good value.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  1:23       ` Paul Rubin
@ 2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-16  7:32           ` Jack Davy
                             ` (5 more replies)
  0 siblings, 6 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-09-16  7:13 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 2:23:21 AM UTC+1, Paul Rubin wrote:
> Jack Davy <algo...@tutanota.com> writes: 
> > seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for 
> > beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by 
> > "The Craft". https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271
> I haven't examined that book directly but based on the preview and 
> blurb, it does seem to be beginner oriented, thus likely to have gaps of 
> its own. If you're trying to fill gaps, you probably want something 
> more complete and advanced. 
> 
> I semi-recently got another book that looks very good, though it's still 
> sitting around without my having read much of it: Analysable Real-Time 
> Systems: Programmed in Ada, by Andy Wellings and Alan Burns. It is 
> basically an updated reprint of an older book by the same authors, 
> self-published in paperback, so it is a good value.

@ Gautier, thanks for the links. When I get Windows 7 on VirtualBox I'll give the LEA editor a try, I'm not so keen on using Wine, it's a bit hit & miss. Also since I learned Vim a few years ago no other editors really do it for me, unless they have Vim bindings ;).

@ Paul, I was thinking that the beginner's Apress book would fill in the gaps regarding Ada 2012 specifically, which as I understand it has changed from previous versions mainly in regard to OOP; I'm assuming I won't need to unlearn anything if I learn the basics from an Ada 95 book. The real-time stuff would be over my head at this point I think, and not really something I had in mind when considering Ada, although I do have a background in electronics, and see that there is Ada compiler for AVR on adacore. 

The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago) and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the curly bracket languages.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
@ 2020-09-16  7:32           ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-16  9:13           ` Gautier write-only
                             ` (4 subsequent siblings)
  5 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-09-16  7:32 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 8:13:23 AM UTC+1, Jack Davy wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 2:23:21 AM UTC+1, Paul Rubin wrote: 
> > Jack Davy <algo...@tutanota.com> writes: 
> > > seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for 
> > > beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by 
> > > "The Craft". https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271 
> > I haven't examined that book directly but based on the preview and 
> > blurb, it does seem to be beginner oriented, thus likely to have gaps of 
> > its own. If you're trying to fill gaps, you probably want something 
> > more complete and advanced. 
> > 
> > I semi-recently got another book that looks very good, though it's still 
> > sitting around without my having read much of it: Analysable Real-Time 
> > Systems: Programmed in Ada, by Andy Wellings and Alan Burns. It is 
> > basically an updated reprint of an older book by the same authors, 
> > self-published in paperback, so it is a good value.
> @ Gautier, thanks for the links. When I get Windows 7 on VirtualBox I'll give the LEA editor a try, I'm not so keen on using Wine, it's a bit hit & miss. Also since I learned Vim a few years ago no other editors really do it for me, unless they have Vim bindings ;). 
> 
> @ Paul, I was thinking that the beginner's Apress book would fill in the gaps regarding Ada 2012 specifically, which as I understand it has changed from previous versions mainly in regard to OOP; I'm assuming I won't need to unlearn anything if I learn the basics from an Ada 95 book. The real-time stuff would be over my head at this point I think, and not really something I had in mind when considering Ada, although I do have a background in electronics, and see that there is Ada compiler for AVR on adacore. 
> 
> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago) and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the curly bracket languages.

I found an impressive list of 'Things to like about Ada' posted by a C/C++ career programmer on the AVR freaks forum (in reply #13)  : https://www.avrfreaks.net/forum/i-didnt-know-you-could-get-ada-avr

My main reason for wanting to learn Ada is the last on his list :

"Promotes a professional, anti-hacker mentality.
By being unforgiving the language promotes the valuable discipline of specifying and writing code more exactly, without the temptations of slipping into bit-twiddling or other programming habits that subvert (and often break) the data or code models. When proper programming discipline is not enforced by the language then it must be voluntary, and in those cases discipline can and inevitably will slip, but when the language enforces much of that discipline then there are no easy ways to avoid it, and the resulting code is higher in quality and faster to develop."

Maybe that's why Ada isn't more popular - being disciplined isn't easy, and hacking is more fun. But I've learned the hard way that it's actually much more satisfying when your programs are bug-free and work properly the first time you run them. Any language which enforces more thinking and less trial-and-error coding is a winner in my book.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-16  7:32           ` Jack Davy
@ 2020-09-16  9:13           ` Gautier write-only
  2020-09-16 10:55           ` Ludovic Brenta
                             ` (3 subsequent siblings)
  5 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Gautier write-only @ 2020-09-16  9:13 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 9:13:23 AM UTC+2, Jack Davy wrote:
> @ Gautier, thanks for the links. When I get Windows 7 on VirtualBox I'll give the LEA editor a try, I'm not so keen on using Wine, it's a bit hit & miss. Also since I learned Vim a few years ago no other editors really do it for me, unless they have Vim bindings ;). 

No worries, you can access the same samples (and the same compiler) without LEA, built on your preferred operating system.
-> https://hacadacompiler.sourceforge.io/ (source code here: https://sourceforge.net/p/hacadacompiler/code/HEAD/tree/ , mirrored here: https://github.com/zertovitch/hac )
Mutatis mutandis, you get there the "tpc.exe" equivalent, whereas LEA is the "turbo.exe" :-)

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-16  7:32           ` Jack Davy
  2020-09-16  9:13           ` Gautier write-only
@ 2020-09-16 10:55           ` Ludovic Brenta
  2020-09-16 11:09             ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  2020-09-16 15:01           ` Jeffrey R. Carter
                             ` (2 subsequent siblings)
  5 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Ludovic Brenta @ 2020-09-16 10:55 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <algojack@tutanota.com> writes:
> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more
> popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that
> never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago)
> and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the
> curly bracket languages.

I wasn't there when it happened but I read that early Ada 83 compilers
were buggy, slow and outrageously expensive because marketed only at one
captive customer, the US DoD.  (In their defence, Ada is a prticularly
difficult language to implement well, orders of magnitude more so than
Pascal or C).  The vendors never really tried to sell Ada development
tools outside the military, despite hype that Ada was the language of
the future.  At around the same time, C++ used the opposite strategy of
selling cheap compilers, with the additional advantage of backward
compatibility with C, so they won market share.  Turbo Pascal was a
contender back then but only on DOS and Windows, so it ultimately lost
to C++, possibly in no small part because of Borland's refusal to abide
by any portable standard.  And then Sun marketed Java aggressively with
a zero-cost compiler and promises of ultimate portability, and stole the
show.

The Ada landcsape changed dramatically when the first Free Sofwtare Ada
95 compiler, gnat, arrived, but the damage to the reputation of Ada was
very hard to overcome.  An entire generation of military and corporate
programmers, frustrated by the early compilers, became managers and
dismissed Ada out of hand for decades.  They and their prejudices have
started to retire in the past few years and I think this is one factor
in the current renaissance of Ada.

-- 
Ludovic Brenta.
The market thinker synergizes the cross-enterprise trends. 

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16 10:55           ` Ludovic Brenta
@ 2020-09-16 11:09             ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  2020-10-02 18:43               ` gautier...@hotmail.com
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Dmitry A. Kazakov @ 2020-09-16 11:09 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 16/09/2020 12:55, Ludovic Brenta wrote:
> Jack Davy <algojack@tutanota.com> writes:
>> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more
>> popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that
>> never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago)
>> and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the
>> curly bracket languages.
> 
> I wasn't there when it happened but I read that early Ada 83 compilers
> were buggy, slow and outrageously expensive because marketed only at one
> captive customer, the US DoD.  (In their defence, Ada is a prticularly
> difficult language to implement well, orders of magnitude more so than
> Pascal or C).  The vendors never really tried to sell Ada development
> tools outside the military, despite hype that Ada was the language of
> the future.  At around the same time, C++ used the opposite strategy of
> selling cheap compilers, with the additional advantage of backward
> compatibility with C, so they won market share.  Turbo Pascal was a
> contender back then but only on DOS and Windows, so it ultimately lost
> to C++, possibly in no small part because of Borland's refusal to abide
> by any portable standard.  And then Sun marketed Java aggressively with
> a zero-cost compiler and promises of ultimate portability, and stole the
> show.
> 
> The Ada landcsape changed dramatically when the first Free Sofwtare Ada
> 95 compiler, gnat, arrived, but the damage to the reputation of Ada was
> very hard to overcome.  An entire generation of military and corporate
> programmers, frustrated by the early compilers, became managers and
> dismissed Ada out of hand for decades.  They and their prejudices have
> started to retire in the past few years and I think this is one factor
> in the current renaissance of Ada.

I mostly agree with your analysis, except the last part. The problem is 
that the culture of programming and overall education became so low that 
it is no more a race against C++. C++ itself is in defense and losing 
against languages and practices so overwhelmingly bad that even C looks 
as a shining beacon. Winter is coming.

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

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
                             ` (2 preceding siblings ...)
  2020-09-16 10:55           ` Ludovic Brenta
@ 2020-09-16 15:01           ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  2020-09-18  6:53             ` Mart van de Wege
  2020-09-16 21:29           ` Paul Rubin
  2020-10-06  4:06           ` andrew...@gmail.com
  5 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jeffrey R. Carter @ 2020-09-16 15:01 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 9/16/20 9:13 AM, Jack Davy wrote:
> 
> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular.

Ada is a language for engineering software. Since 98% of developers are unable 
to do that, Ada will never be popular as long as such people are allowed to 
develop software.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"IMHO, Interfaces are worthless."
Randy Brukardt
117

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
                             ` (3 preceding siblings ...)
  2020-09-16 15:01           ` Jeffrey R. Carter
@ 2020-09-16 21:29           ` Paul Rubin
  2020-10-06  4:06           ` andrew...@gmail.com
  5 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Paul Rubin @ 2020-09-16 21:29 UTC (permalink / raw)


Jack Davy <algojack@tutanota.com> writes:
> @ Paul, I was thinking that the beginner's Apress book would fill in
> the gaps regarding Ada 2012 specifically, which as I understand it has
> changed from previous versions mainly in regard to OOP

I think Ada 95 OOP is not really used very much, and the changes in Ada
2012 are things like contracts, and built-in SPARK syntax.  You could
also look at the online book "Ada Distilled" which is about Ada 95.  I
found it an ok way to get started, though I never really progressed
beyond that.

> I do have a background in electronics, and see that there is Ada
> compiler for AVR on adacore.

I don't know the current state of that, but some years ago it was rather
hard to use or parts were missing or whatever.  These days, the AVR is
in decline since it is so limited.  Everyone uses ARM or maybe soon
RISC-V processors even for tiny embedded stuff.

> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more
> popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax

Tooling, libraries, language verbosity, etc.  As pure language, though,
it is still mysterious to me what Rust offers that Ada doesn't.

Today, for most programming, "systems languages" including Ada, C, C++,
and Rust are all imho somewhat niche.  Unless you are dealing with
specialized problems (such as embedded or OS's), computers have almost
unbounded resources.  So it's easier to get your work done using
languages with automatic memory management, unbounded arithmetic, etc.

The main cost is consuming more machine resources and losing some timing
determinism, but most of the time you can live with both of those.  Ada
is best for more demanding applications which usually involve realtime
or high reliability constraints.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16 15:01           ` Jeffrey R. Carter
@ 2020-09-18  6:53             ` Mart van de Wege
  2020-09-18 10:00               ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Mart van de Wege @ 2020-09-18  6:53 UTC (permalink / raw)


"Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.not.acm.org> writes:

> On 9/16/20 9:13 AM, Jack Davy wrote:
>>
>> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular.
>
> Ada is a language for engineering software. Since 98% of developers
> are unable to do that, Ada will never be popular as long as such
> people are allowed to develop software.

I use it for hobby stuff, for quick solutions (like generating RPG
characters). Does not feel like engineering to me.

But what I do like is the elegance of the language, and the ability to
describe my problem domain using distinct types.

The 'verbosity' does not bother me. I'm a fluent touch typist, Using the
shift key to type braces slows me more than typing out statements to
delineate blocks.

The only real nit I have with Ada is that it does not have closures.

Mart

-- 
"We will need a longer wall when the revolution comes."
--- AJS, quoting an uncertain source.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-18  6:53             ` Mart van de Wege
@ 2020-09-18 10:00               ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jeffrey R. Carter @ 2020-09-18 10:00 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 9/18/20 8:53 AM, Mart van de Wege wrote:
> 
> I use it for hobby stuff, for quick solutions (like generating RPG
> characters). Does not feel like engineering to me.

I do similar things, too, but I always have a design in mind, and usually start 
with pkg, task, & PO specs and subprogram declarations, so I suspect that after 
doing this for so long I can engineer simple problems in my head. Presumably 
others with similar experience or who are better than I do the same.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"Crucifixion's a doddle."
Monty Python's Life of Brian
82

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16 11:09             ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
@ 2020-10-02 18:43               ` gautier...@hotmail.com
  2020-10-03  6:43                 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: gautier...@hotmail.com @ 2020-10-02 18:43 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 1:09:57 PM UTC+2, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:

> I mostly agree with your analysis, except the last part. The problem is 
> that the culture of programming and overall education became so low that 
> it is no more a race against C++. C++ itself is in defense and losing 
> against languages and practices so overwhelmingly bad that even C looks 
> as a shining beacon. Winter is coming. 

20-30 years ago the pointy haired bosses would warmly recommend a buzzword called C++ (or something spelled "tchavasiblosblos" in some places) for Aïti projects, but now they all want a digital transformation strategy with blockchain and machine learning. I'm not sure if the level is really lower (we tend to make the past nicer in our minds). But clearly the notion of programming language was lost on the way :-) ...

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-02 18:43               ` gautier...@hotmail.com
@ 2020-10-03  6:43                 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  2020-10-05 18:36                   ` Shark8
  2020-10-17 19:28                   ` antispam
  0 siblings, 2 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Dmitry A. Kazakov @ 2020-10-03  6:43 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 02/10/2020 20:43, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 1:09:57 PM UTC+2, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> 
>> I mostly agree with your analysis, except the last part. The problem is
>> that the culture of programming and overall education became so low that
>> it is no more a race against C++. C++ itself is in defense and losing
>> against languages and practices so overwhelmingly bad that even C looks
>> as a shining beacon. Winter is coming.
> 
> 20-30 years ago the pointy haired bosses would warmly recommend a buzzword called C++ (or something spelled "tchavasiblosblos" in some places) for Aïti projects, but now they all want a digital transformation strategy with blockchain and machine learning. I'm not sure if the level is really lower (we tend to make the past nicer in our minds). But clearly the notion of programming language was lost on the way :-) ...

Well, the method of ML used in these days goes back to an idea from 
50's. It was promptly discarded then as too weak to solve elementary 
classification problems. The AI of late 80's was far more diversified, 
advanced and powerful than this mockery, yet it died peacefully, because 
of limitations it had. I don't even know what to think about all this.

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

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-03  6:43                 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
@ 2020-10-05 18:36                   ` Shark8
  2020-10-17 19:28                   ` antispam
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Shark8 @ 2020-10-05 18:36 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 12:43:38 AM UTC-6, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> I don't even know what to think about all this.

"Marketing Hype."

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
                             ` (4 preceding siblings ...)
  2020-09-16 21:29           ` Paul Rubin
@ 2020-10-06  4:06           ` andrew...@gmail.com
  2020-10-06  7:32             ` Jack Davy
  5 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: andrew...@gmail.com @ 2020-10-06  4:06 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 3:13:23 AM UTC-4, Jack Davy wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 2:23:21 AM UTC+1, Paul Rubin wrote: 
> > Jack Davy <algo...@tutanota.com> writes: 
> > > seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for 
> > > beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by 
> > > "The Craft". https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271 
> > I haven't examined that book directly but based on the preview and 
> > blurb, it does seem to be beginner oriented, thus likely to have gaps of 
> > its own. If you're trying to fill gaps, you probably want something 
> > more complete and advanced. 
> > 
> > I semi-recently got another book that looks very good, though it's still 
> > sitting around without my having read much of it: Analysable Real-Time 
> > Systems: Programmed in Ada, by Andy Wellings and Alan Burns. It is 
> > basically an updated reprint of an older book by the same authors, 
> > self-published in paperback, so it is a good value.
> @ Gautier, thanks for the links. When I get Windows 7 on VirtualBox I'll give the LEA editor a try, I'm not so keen on using Wine, it's a bit hit & miss. Also since I learned Vim a few years ago no other editors really do it for me, unless they have Vim bindings ;). 
> 
> @ Paul, I was thinking that the beginner's Apress book would fill in the gaps regarding Ada 2012 specifically, which as I understand it has changed from previous versions mainly in regard to OOP; I'm assuming I won't need to unlearn anything if I learn the basics from an Ada 95 book. The real-time stuff would be over my head at this point I think, and not really something I had in mind when considering Ada, although I do have a background in electronics, and see that there is Ada compiler for AVR on adacore. 
> 
> The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago) and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the curly bracket languages.

Beginning Ada Programming is meant to be a gentle and guided introduction to Ada.  It does cover Ada 2012 topics and all of the code was compiled on an Ada 2012 compiler to make sure that it worked.

My goal was never to compete with the other more advanced books on Ada, but to provide an easier way to get learn this wonderful language and become more comfortable with writing code in it.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-06  4:06           ` andrew...@gmail.com
@ 2020-10-06  7:32             ` Jack Davy
  2020-10-17 23:02               ` mgr
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jack Davy @ 2020-10-06  7:32 UTC (permalink / raw)


On Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at 5:06:20 AM UTC+1, andrew...@gmail.com wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 3:13:23 AM UTC-4, Jack Davy wrote: 
> > On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 2:23:21 AM UTC+1, Paul Rubin wrote: 
> > > Jack Davy <algo...@tutanota.com> writes: 
> > > > seem to be many books on Ada, but there is a very recent one for 
> > > > beginners which I will probably get to fill in the gaps not covered by 
> > > > "The Craft". https://www.apress.com/gp/book/9781484254271 
> > > I haven't examined that book directly but based on the preview and 
> > > blurb, it does seem to be beginner oriented, thus likely to have gaps of 
> > > its own. If you're trying to fill gaps, you probably want something 
> > > more complete and advanced. 
> > > 
> > > I semi-recently got another book that looks very good, though it's still 
> > > sitting around without my having read much of it: Analysable Real-Time 
> > > Systems: Programmed in Ada, by Andy Wellings and Alan Burns. It is 
> > > basically an updated reprint of an older book by the same authors, 
> > > self-published in paperback, so it is a good value. 
> > @ Gautier, thanks for the links. When I get Windows 7 on VirtualBox I'll give the LEA editor a try, I'm not so keen on using Wine, it's a bit hit & miss. Also since I learned Vim a few years ago no other editors really do it for me, unless they have Vim bindings ;). 
> > 
> > @ Paul, I was thinking that the beginner's Apress book would fill in the gaps regarding Ada 2012 specifically, which as I understand it has changed from previous versions mainly in regard to OOP; I'm assuming I won't need to unlearn anything if I learn the basics from an Ada 95 book. The real-time stuff would be over my head at this point I think, and not really something I had in mind when considering Ada, although I do have a background in electronics, and see that there is Ada compiler for AVR on adacore. 
> > 
> > The more I look at this language the more I wonder why it isn't more popular. Maybe people just don't like the pascalish syntax, but that never put me off because I learned Turbo Pascal at Uni (25 years ago) and more recently Free Pascal/Lazarus. Never was much of a fan of the curly bracket languages.
> Beginning Ada Programming is meant to be a gentle and guided introduction to Ada. It does cover Ada 2012 topics and all of the code was compiled on an Ada 2012 compiler to make sure that it worked. 
> 
> My goal was never to compete with the other more advanced books on Ada, but to provide an easier way to get learn this wonderful language and become more comfortable with writing code in it.

I  intend to purchase your book but at the moment I'm working through this one :
https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/cs1book/
It has many example programs and is clearly written, although it only covers up to Ada 95. I'm not new to programming so I'm getting through it pretty quickly. I've download John English's JEWL library and have successfully compiled a few of the example programs using Wine on Linux. It seems very easy to use compared to most GUI libraries. A Linux port of it would be nice but I wouldn't know where to start with that.

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-03  6:43                 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  2020-10-05 18:36                   ` Shark8
@ 2020-10-17 19:28                   ` antispam
  2020-10-17 22:47                     ` Randy Brukardt
  1 sibling, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: antispam @ 2020-10-17 19:28 UTC (permalink / raw)


Dmitry A. Kazakov <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> wrote:
> On 02/10/2020 20:43, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
> > On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 1:09:57 PM UTC+2, Dmitry A. Kazakov wrote:
> > 
> >> I mostly agree with your analysis, except the last part. The problem is
> >> that the culture of programming and overall education became so low that
> >> it is no more a race against C++. C++ itself is in defense and losing
> >> against languages and practices so overwhelmingly bad that even C looks
> >> as a shining beacon. Winter is coming.
> > 
> > 20-30 years ago the pointy haired bosses would warmly recommend a buzzword called C++ (or something spelled "tchavasiblosblos" in some places) for A?ti projects, but now they all want a digital transformation strategy with blockchain and machine learning. I'm not sure if the level is really lower (we tend to make the past nicer in our minds). But clearly the notion of programming language was lost on the way :-) ...
> 
> Well, the method of ML used in these days goes back to an idea from 
> 50's. It was promptly discarded then as too weak to solve elementary 
> classification problems. The AI of late 80's was far more diversified, 
> advanced and powerful than this mockery, yet it died peacefully, because 
> of limitations it had. I don't even know what to think about all this.

Hmm, I would say that progress from perceptron in 50 to current ANN
is bigger than progress from FORTRAN to Ada.  Would you accept
critique of Ada based on experience with FORTRAN?  Anyway,
ML researches tried various methods and currently ANN give
best results.  Using methods from 80's it would be hard or
impossible to get results obtained by modern methods.

I would very much prefer more principled apprach than ANN,
but arguing against reality is not productive...

-- 
                              Waldek Hebisch

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-17 19:28                   ` antispam
@ 2020-10-17 22:47                     ` Randy Brukardt
  2020-10-18  6:45                       ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: Randy Brukardt @ 2020-10-17 22:47 UTC (permalink / raw)


<antispam@math.uni.wroc.pl> wrote in message 
news:rmfglq$dlh$1@z-news.wcss.wroc.pl...
> Dmitry A. Kazakov <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de> wrote:
>> On 02/10/2020 20:43, gautier...@hotmail.com wrote:
>> > On Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 1:09:57 PM UTC+2, Dmitry A. Kazakov 
>> > wrote:
>> >
>> >> I mostly agree with your analysis, except the last part. The problem 
>> >> is
>> >> that the culture of programming and overall education became so low 
>> >> that
>> >> it is no more a race against C++. C++ itself is in defense and losing
>> >> against languages and practices so overwhelmingly bad that even C 
>> >> looks
>> >> as a shining beacon. Winter is coming.
>> >
>> > 20-30 years ago the pointy haired bosses would warmly recommend a 
>> > buzzword called C++ (or something spelled "tchavasiblosblos" in some 
>> > places) for A?ti projects, but now they all want a digital 
>> > transformation strategy with blockchain and machine learning. I'm not 
>> > sure if the level is really lower (we tend to make the past nicer in 
>> > our minds). But clearly the notion of programming language was lost on 
>> > the way :-) ...
>>
>> Well, the method of ML used in these days goes back to an idea from
>> 50's. It was promptly discarded then as too weak to solve elementary
>> classification problems. The AI of late 80's was far more diversified,
>> advanced and powerful than this mockery, yet it died peacefully, because
>> of limitations it had. I don't even know what to think about all this.
>
> Hmm, I would say that progress from perceptron in 50 to current ANN
> is bigger than progress from FORTRAN to Ada.  Would you accept
> critique of Ada based on experience with FORTRAN?  Anyway,
> ML researches tried various methods and currently ANN give
> best results.  Using methods from 80's it would be hard or
> impossible to get results obtained by modern methods.
>
> I would very much prefer more principled apprach than ANN,
> but arguing against reality is not productive...

The reality is that (non-artificial) intelligence seems to no longer exist, 
at least where people have power. One can either try to alter that reality, 
or accept impending doom. Not sure where I stand anymore on this.

                                Randy. 


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-06  7:32             ` Jack Davy
@ 2020-10-17 23:02               ` mgr
  2020-10-22 10:32                 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 51+ messages in thread
From: mgr @ 2020-10-17 23:02 UTC (permalink / raw)


Am 6/10/20 um 9:32 schrieb Jack Davy:
> I  intend to purchase your book but at the moment I'm working through this one :
> https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/cs1book/
> It has many example programs and is clearly written, although it only covers up to Ada 95. I'm not new to programming so I'm getting through it pretty quickly. I've download John English's JEWL library and have successfully compiled a few of the example programs using Wine on Linux. It seems very easy to use compared to most GUI libraries. A Linux port of it would be nice but I wouldn't know where to start with that.
> 

I know about this port of JEWL to GtkAda, but might be old and probably 
would require an old version of Gtk. I haven't tried it.

https://deim.urv.cat/~sergio.gomez/ada/simpleguis.php

Project documentation (in Spanish):

https://docplayer.es/44482143-Mejora-y-migracion-a-gtkada-de-la-libreria-jewl.html

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-17 22:47                     ` Randy Brukardt
@ 2020-10-18  6:45                       ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Dmitry A. Kazakov @ 2020-10-18  6:45 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 18/10/2020 00:47, Randy Brukardt wrote:

> The reality is that (non-artificial) intelligence seems to no longer exist,
> at least where people have power. One can either try to alter that reality,
> or accept impending doom. Not sure where I stand anymore on this.

Huh, it is called democracy, egalitarianism, rule of the mob, each vote 
counts etc. The aggregated intelligence of a crowd of people is below 
the intelligence of its dumbest member. Neither deep hierarchies nor 
flat organizations work well. Intelligence is there you need to pick it 
up. E.g. perceptron does not work, but you could transform the inputs to 
make it working. Transforming inputs, that is the idea, social networks, 
media and search engines are working hard on altering the reality, do 
not worry... (:-))

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

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

* Re: Learning Ada
  2020-10-17 23:02               ` mgr
@ 2020-10-22 10:32                 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 51+ messages in thread
From: Jeffrey R. Carter @ 2020-10-22 10:32 UTC (permalink / raw)


On 10/18/20 1:02 AM, mgr wrote:
> Am 6/10/20 um 9:32 schrieb Jack Davy:
>> I  intend to purchase your book but at the moment I'm working through this one :
>> https://www2.seas.gwu.edu/~mfeldman/cs1book/
>> It has many example programs and is clearly written, although it only covers 
>> up to Ada 95. I'm not new to programming so I'm getting through it pretty 
>> quickly. I've download John English's JEWL library and have successfully 
>> compiled a few of the example programs using Wine on Linux. It seems very easy 
>> to use compared to most GUI libraries. A Linux port of it would be nice but I 
>> wouldn't know where to start with that.
>>
> 
> I know about this port of JEWL to GtkAda, but might be old and probably would 
> require an old version of Gtk. I haven't tried it.
> 
> https://deim.urv.cat/~sergio.gomez/ada/simpleguis.php
> 
> Project documentation (in Spanish):
> 
> https://docplayer.es/44482143-Mejora-y-migracion-a-gtkada-de-la-libreria-jewl.html

There is a JEWL-inspired library called Win_IO:

https://www.ctr.unican.es/Win_IO/

-- 
Jeff Carter
"If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate."
Monty Python's the Meaning of Life
56

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 51+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2020-10-22 10:32 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 51+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2020-09-15 10:36 Learning Ada Jack Davy
2020-09-15 14:31 ` Anders Wirzenius
2020-09-15 15:07   ` Jack Davy
2020-09-15 15:54     ` Ludovic Brenta
2020-09-15 17:01 ` Simon Wright
2020-09-15 17:07   ` Simon Wright
2020-09-15 19:03     ` Jack Davy
2020-09-15 19:28       ` Gautier write-only
2020-09-15 23:00       ` Jerry Petrey
2020-09-16  1:23       ` Paul Rubin
2020-09-16  7:13         ` Jack Davy
2020-09-16  7:32           ` Jack Davy
2020-09-16  9:13           ` Gautier write-only
2020-09-16 10:55           ` Ludovic Brenta
2020-09-16 11:09             ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2020-10-02 18:43               ` gautier...@hotmail.com
2020-10-03  6:43                 ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2020-10-05 18:36                   ` Shark8
2020-10-17 19:28                   ` antispam
2020-10-17 22:47                     ` Randy Brukardt
2020-10-18  6:45                       ` Dmitry A. Kazakov
2020-09-16 15:01           ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2020-09-18  6:53             ` Mart van de Wege
2020-09-18 10:00               ` Jeffrey R. Carter
2020-09-16 21:29           ` Paul Rubin
2020-10-06  4:06           ` andrew...@gmail.com
2020-10-06  7:32             ` Jack Davy
2020-10-17 23:02               ` mgr
2020-10-22 10:32                 ` Jeffrey R. Carter
  -- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2010-07-24 14:21 Frederick Williams
2010-07-24 16:21 ` Simon Wright
2010-07-25 20:33 ` mockturtle
2009-06-28 17:56 unsigned type anon
2009-06-28 19:54 ` tmoran
2009-06-29 13:36   ` Rob Solomon
2009-06-29 14:18     ` Ludovic Brenta
2009-07-03  1:41       ` Rob Solomon
2009-07-03  7:12         ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) Jacob Sparre Andersen
2009-07-03  8:38           ` Learning Ada Peter Hermann
2009-07-03  9:44             ` Georg Bauhaus
2009-07-03 22:20           ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) anon
2009-07-04 14:53             ` Georg Bauhaus
2009-07-05 23:21               ` anon
2009-07-06  0:19                 ` Learning Ada Albrecht Käfer
2009-07-06  2:50                   ` anon
2009-07-06  6:18                     ` AdaMagica
2009-07-06  7:47                       ` Jean-Pierre Rosen
2009-07-06 20:21                       ` anon
2009-07-06 21:08                         ` Georg Bauhaus
2009-07-06 22:43                         ` Frank J. Lhota
2009-07-09 22:28                           ` anon
2009-07-10  6:23                             ` AdaMagica
2009-07-06 10:53                 ` Learning Ada (Was: unsigned type) Georg Bauhaus
2009-07-06 19:34                   ` anon
2009-07-06 20:29                     ` Learning Ada Albrecht Käfer
     [not found] <36841f24.293012@news.ptd.net>
1998-12-25  0:00 ` learning ada LeakyStain
1998-12-26  0:00   ` David Botton
1989-06-15  1:48 Learning ADA Krishan M Nainani
1989-06-15 14:19 ` Rosa Weber
1985-09-06 15:10 Learning Ada Marty Sasaki
     [not found] <332@harvard.UUCP>
1985-09-04 16:07 ` richw
1985-09-03  2:46 Marty Sasaki

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