Re: Beginning Ada Programming, by Andrew T. Shvets (2020)

[Norman Worth <nworth@comcastNOSPAM.net>]

J-P. Rosen wrote:
> Le 03/12/2019 à 13:33, Lucretia a écrit :
>>> Yes, he is. I had a little conversation on the very first edition
>>> with him. I esp. objected that he started his examples with using
>>> Integer rather than user-defined types (which IMHO is the very
>>> heart of Ada). I do not know whether he changed this.
> 
>> There's nothing wrong with using integer to start off and then moving
>> onto defined types.
> Yes there is! (see my paper at the last Ada-Europe). The first message
> when you teach Ada is that it is all about defining proper types. You
> have to start by fighting bad habits from other languages.
> 
One of the most difficult things for programmers to graft these days is 
the concept and proper use of types, which is key to Ada.  Ada makes 
this even more complicated with the very useful attributes of private 
and limited types.  Unless a text clearly conveys the use of types and 
illustrates it throughout, it is useless for teaching people Ada.  Since 
this is a foreign concept to most current programmers, illustrations and 
good exercises are needed, too.

Compare this text to Barnes, which most of us use as a quick reference.