I was taught Ada as a first language and not only did it provide a great solid foundation for good programming practices, but it made learning any other language a piece of cake! (I graduated last Spring) I took Ada for two semesters, later taking c/c++ as a combined one semester course, and Visual C++ and Java later on, by taking Ada first (And having professors that pointed out every reason why Ada was better than other languages hehe) I find it easier to uses other languages in a safer way, I know the pitfalls to watch out for, and just by taking Ada it has made me a better programer all around. Sadly, I wanted to move to California after graduation and live in the Los Angeles area and I couldn't find a job using Ada that I wanted out here, so I am currently using C++, I took a job with TRWs Systems and Information Technology Group, no Ada here! (But there were lots of Ada jobs in Tucson, AZ, Albuquerque, NM, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Iowa, Indiana! ) But I am programming so I am happy! And liking TRW and the location a lot! Just my Two Cents! Have a good weekend! :) -Marie >===== Original Message From Ben Brosgol <[log in to unmask]> ===== >> Here at Portsmouth we still teach Ada as the first language to a wide >range >> of students on our computer science, software engineering and information >> technology courses. We believe it is the best language to support the >> teaching of the foundations of programming, especially modularity, >> readability and correctness. We use GNAT because it gives students better >> help with error messages than any other compiler we've seen. >> >> We also believe Ada provides an excellent platform from which to go on to >> teach Java, which we do in the second year for CS and SE students. That >was >> a change this year (we used to teach C++) and seems to have gone well. >> >> We've tried this year teaching Java as the first language for our MSc >> conversion course students (again replacing C++). That hasn't been a great >> success but , to be fair, perhaps for reasons nothing to do with choice of >> language. >> >> Regards, >> >> Jim Briggs. > >I am not surprised that teaching Java as a 1st language has been less than >successful, and I suspect that the reasons are language related. A couple >of years ago I wrote a paper comparing Ada and Java as a foundation language >and pointed out why Ada is the better choice; it's available (updated in >March 2000) at >http://www.gnat.com/texts/papers/ada-java-teaching-comparison.pdf > >It is not only "Ada bigots" who have reached the conclusion that Java as a >first language is a bad choice. Check the April 1998 issue of SIGPLAN >Notices for some papers giving other educators' negative experience at >teaching Java at this level. It's possible to use Java as a foundations >language without inducing permanent harm on the students, but it takes a lot >of care. > >Ben Brosgol >Ada Core Technologies >79 Tobey Road; Belmont, MA 02478; USA >+1-617-489-4027 (voice); +1-617-489-4009 (FAX) >[log in to unmask]