Re: Student views on Ada

[merlin@annwfn.com (Fred McCall)]

In <34kh42$le5@sun24.tfh-berlin.de> weberwu@tfh-berlin.de Prof_Weber-Wulff writes:

>
>A collection of student comments on Ada (We use Ada as the first language):
>
>- A 3rd semester student commented that he has both C++ and Ada at home,
>  but that he uses (Meridian) Ada when he wants to get something done
>  fast - because when he finally gets it to compile it's usually right,
>  as opposed to C++...

This seems indicative of two things.  One, it supports the 'first
language preference' theory; i.e., whatever someone had as a first
language is the one they will think is best.  I don't fit that, but this
student apparently does.  Two, and perhaps more important, if the
language bashing comment is indeed the true state of affairs, it would
appear to me that learning Ada first may have taught this individual
some 'bad habits' that have led him to rely on the compiler to check
things for him tht he should be aware of himself.  I've seen this happen
frequently when Pascal programmers are first learning C.

>
>- A 7th semester student looking over the shoulder of a 2nd semester student
>  doing something whizzy with the Meridian graphics packages: "I can't 
>  believe you're doing that in Ada! I thought Ada was stupid and boring!"

One would think that a 7th semester student would be aware that one can
do anything in any language, given sufficient library support (like the
Meridian graphics package).  I think I would worry about a 7th semester
student who made such a comment.

>
>- The students in our department have started a little newspaper (and
>  asked for permission to do so, boy in my student days we just DID
>  things like that!). The front page article was "ADA, oder was?", (Ada or
>  what?) and included a pro and a contra position. The pro article felt
>  that our insisting that Ada was too good a language to be left to the
>  military was okay, and even went so far as to say that using the 
>  language strengthens ones sense of responsibility - doing what you
>  think is right despite what every one else says. The contra article
>  felt that using Ada legitimizes the US American war machine, the technial
>  aspects of the language have no relevance. The writer suspects that since
>  the DoD issues the standard [little knowledge has he of Ada9X!] corrupt
>  officials could misuse their power to unimaginably evil ends... and closes
>  with the call to reject Ada thereby setting onesself against the desire
>  for power and unreasonability... 

Both positions seem to be more oriented toward political justifications
(about the evil American war machine) than they are toward real
technical superiority as a justification.  I'd consider neither
particularly valid.


--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
merlin@annwfn.com -- I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.