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I've taken a brief look at Ada several times, but gave up on it because it seemed difficult to get a cohesive set of documentation and examples (and ideally a g

I've taken a brief look at Ada several times, but gave up on it because it seemed difficult to get a cohesive set of documentation and examples (and ideally a good book) that were all in sync. Since Ada has been around for so long, there's an awful lot of outdated material. Do you have any suggestions on materials one should use while learning Ada for hobbyist purposes? I'd like to give it another go.

kqr 9y ago
Four versions of Ada, named after the year it was released: 83, 95, 2005, and 2012. Each new version adds features on top of the previous. Ada 83 has - arrays, - records (structs), - derived types (subtypes carrying the same data as parent type), - subtypes, - access types (thick pointers), - procedures (subprograms executed for their side effects) and functions (subprograms that return values), - Named parameters - reference arguments (greatly reducing the amount of pointers you have to deal with) - Default values for arguments - overloading by type - in/out parameters - private package parts (encapsulation) - generic packages (kinda like C++ templates) - exceptions - tasks (concurrent processes that communicate with message passing) ----- Ada 95 adds a lot of things that make it easier to do Java-style OOP: - Record extension (inheritance; subtypes carrying additional data their parent type does not) - Dynamic dispatch of subtypes - Abstract types - Subprogram access types (function pointers) - Sophisticated package hierarchy (though potentially somewhat unintuitive: child packages extend their parents, parent packages are not umbrellas for children the way they are in Python) - Protected types (protected objects) - Modular types (unsigned ints with defined overflow characteristics) - Unbounded_String (the std::string of Ada, compared to the char[] situation in Ada 83) ----- In Ada 2005, the greatest addition is probably the Collections packages, which added several common data structures to the standard library: - Instance.Method(Param) syntax sugar for Object.Method(Instance, Param) - Interfaces - Controlled types (RAII) - Removed silly restrictions on access types - Keyword "limited" to import only declarations - Keyword "raise" takes exception message directly - Pragma Assert ...and this is where I need to get off the train. Anyway, bookmark the Ada 2012 Reference Manual. It has everything in it. Edit: ...but look what I found! https://www.adacore.com/about-ada/comparison-chart https://www.adacore.com/about-ada/comparison-chart
- neverartful 9y ago
  This PDF introduces Ada for C++ and Java developers. After a quick perusal, it appears that it would be valuable. http://www.adacore.com/uploads_gems/Ada_for_the_C++_or_Java_Developer-cc.pdf http://www.adacore.com/uploads_gems/Ada_for_the_C++_or_Java_...

kqr 9y ago

Four versions of Ada, named after the year it was released: 83, 95, 2005, and 2012. Each new version adds features on top of the previous. Ada 83 has - arrays, - records (structs), - derived types (subtypes carrying the same data as parent type), - subtypes, - access types (thick pointers), - procedures (subprograms executed for their side effects) and functions (subprograms that return values), - Named parameters - reference arguments (greatly reducing the amount of pointers you have to deal with) - Default values for arguments - overloading by type - in/out parameters - private package parts (encapsulation) - generic packages (kinda like C++ templates) - exceptions - tasks (concurrent processes that communicate with message passing) ----- Ada 95 adds a lot of things that make it easier to do Java-style OOP: - Record extension (inheritance; subtypes carrying additional data their parent type does not) - Dynamic dispatch of subtypes - Abstract types - Subprogram access types (function pointers) - Sophisticated package hierarchy (though potentially somewhat unintuitive: child packages extend their parents, parent packages are not umbrellas for children the way they are in Python) - Protected types (protected objects) - Modular types (unsigned ints with defined overflow characteristics) - Unbounded_String (the std::string of Ada, compared to the char[] situation in Ada 83) ----- In Ada 2005, the greatest addition is probably the Collections packages, which added several common data structures to the standard library: - Instance.Method(Param) syntax sugar for Object.Method(Instance, Param) - Interfaces - Controlled types (RAII) - Removed silly restrictions on access types - Keyword "limited" to import only declarations - Keyword "raise" takes exception message directly - Pragma Assert ...and this is where I need to get off the train. Anyway, bookmark the Ada 2012 Reference Manual. It has everything in it. Edit: ...but look what I found! https://www.adacore.com/about-ada/comparison-chart https://www.adacore.com/about-ada/comparison-chart

neverartful 9y ago
This PDF introduces Ada for C++ and Java developers. After a quick perusal, it appears that it would be valuable. http://www.adacore.com/uploads_gems/Ada_for_the_C++_or_Java_Developer-cc.pdf http://www.adacore.com/uploads_gems/Ada_for_the_C++_or_Java_...