Re: Why don't large companies use Ada?
Date: 16 Nov 1994 22:05:35 -0500
Message-ID: <3aeh9v$ck9_at_felix.seas.gwu.edu>
In article <784995260snz_at_rippleco.demon.co.uk>,
Doug Robertson <Doug_at_rippleco.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>My question is - why do Universities teach Ada - sometimes as
>the main language on courses ?
Well, I could go on all night on this, but won't. Suffice to say that most of us teaching Ada as the main (or first) language do so because Ada has all the pedagogical features (strong typing, abstract data types, runtime checking) that we like in Turbo Pascal, but it's portable. An Ada program that avoids _machine-specific_ libraries (like PC graphics) will compile and execute using any compiler on any platform.
That not only makes life easier for teachers and students - they can write code on their home PC's, then compile for submission on the university's Unix or VMS box - but it also sets an excellent example for students on the value of strong and well-enforced standards. IMHO, good language standards are a sign of maturity in the industry, an end to "feature wars" such as still rage in, say, Pascal.
Further, Ada has enough richness to be a useful language for upperlevel courses such as compilers, operating systems, and (obviously) project-oriented SE courses. At GW as elsewhere, most of us teach our undergraduates several languages, usually including C and C++, but we believe that as imperative languages go, Ada makes the best first language. Whether it is the most popular in industry is of little relevance in selecting it as a _first_ language.
I hope this doesn't start yet another thread on first languages; we've had about one per month in this group and are getting bored.
Mike Feldman
Michael B. Feldman - chair, SIGAda Education Working Group Professor, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science The George Washington University - Washington, DC 20052 USA 202-994-5919 (voice) - 202-994-0227 (fax) - mfeldman_at_seas.gwu.edu (Internet)
Ada on the World-Wide Web: http://lglwww.epfl.ch/Ada/
"Non illegitimi carborundum." (Don't let the bastards grind you down.)
Received on Thu Nov 17 1994 - 04:05:35 CET