Customer Reviews

ADA as a Second Language (McGraw-Hill series in software engineering and technology)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Over two years back, I had to write and test huge amount of code (about 200-330K LOC) in Ada 95 (I had over 8 yrs. Ada 83 experience) in very short time. A colleague suggested to use this book. It has helped me in every way. The book contains very clear explanations about all the new concepts in Ada and it also covers the real-time issues, OOP, low-level multilingual programming, distributed programming etc.

Although, it was written for the "C" programmers who are new to Ada, I have since then worked on two more major programs and this is the only Ada95 book I am continuously using together with the Ada 95 LRM.

This book is the best Ada 95 book in the market. It covers everything about Ada 95 (core language plus all six specialized annexes). Chapters are presented in a tutorial format. Examples in the book are practical and realistic. Best of all you learn features of Ada 95 with a tremendous clarity. What is unbelievable is the ability of the author to teach you some complex topics in a step by step manner leaving no room for confusion. This book is complete in every way and entertaining. If you are a serious Ada developer this is a MUST BOOK. I use this book to teach adavnced Ada 95 classes.

The first edition of this book was my second Ada83 book, but quickly became my favorite. The only way to have improved on the original was to write another about the new and improved Ada standard, Ada95. I have recommended this book to numerous co-workers, both new to the language and old timers, and all agree this is among the best. The sections at the end of each chapter explaining the differences from Ada83 are helpful for those of us familiar with Ada95 but are still using Ada83. The examples in the book are excellent and provide just enough information to solve specific questions without getting bogged down in the details. I have used the first edition through the second from student to professional and look forward to a third some time in the next century.

Over two years back, I had to write and test huge amount of code (about 200-330K LOC) in Ada 95 (I had over 8 yrs. Ada 83 experience) in very short time. A colleague suggested to use this book. It has helped me in every way. The book contains very clear explanations about all the new concepts in Ada and it also covers the real-time issues, OOP, low-level multilingual programming, distributed programming etc.

Although, it was written for the "C" programmers who are new to Ada, I have since then worked on two more major programs and this is the only Ada95 book I am continuously using together with the Ada 95 LRM.

This book is great for people just starting with ADA because it initially goes through the basics of a program and then going through every component in detail. Since I was already proficient in C and C++ it was nice how the book points out how the commands are similar to not only C but also Pascal and COBOL (even though I don't know those two). I really like the format of the book. You get the format definition, then the syntax, and finally a short example of the instruction being used.

If you already know C or some other similar language, you'll probably get annoyed with how much detail it goes into at explaining the simple programs and code it presents, but you can always skip it.

My only complaints are how long the book is and the price. Not only is this the longest programming book I've seen, but it's also the most expensive. However, if you really need to learn ADA it's pretty much worth the price.

Phenomenal index. Extremely comprehensive. Best reference for Ada 95.
Norm - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE come back to Ada and update your best in class reference book for Ada 2005.

After starting with the online Ada Lovelace tutorial, I wanted to find a nice detailed book and found Cohen's 2ed to be excellent. It is full of good stuff (heck, >1000 pages!) and even covers system programming.

Its a travesty that C and C++ are being used to design critical systems in things like aircraft and cars where human life is at risk since it is impossible to prove the reliability of the these languages. They are completely unsafe languages that put the entire responsibility of correctness on the programmer. Ada is a language that is safe by design in much the same way as functional languages like ML are safe, due to strong type checking and a checked and type strong module system. But somehow Ada has the reputation for being a dead language, so only very few companies make use of it for embedded software. Two reasons that Ada never received general acceptance was that it came out in 83 and such a large language was not able to fit on the tiny processors and memory of that time (1mhz, 64k) so it had a undeserved reputation of being slow. Keep in mind C++ was considered too slow to use at that time. The other reason that Ada never caught on is there are not any easy to understand books on Ada. All books currently out on Ada are very large and dense. Ada is not a language that relys on gimics, but is a collection of software practices that work together to make a very strong language. Norman Cohen's book came out in 86, only 3 years after the 83 standard was released. It covers all the advanced topics of language design like generics, packages, tasks (threads), access types (pointers), sub classing (object orientation) in a way that is just as understandable as any current books on these subjects.

Regrettably I bought the first edition of this book covering the Ada 83 standard as I was not aware of the 2nd edition. I have since ordered updated version of this book.

Dr. Cohen has done it again. His second edition of Ada As A Second Language should be essential to the Ada developer as well as the instructor. In my 12 years of teaching Ada, his books are the only text I have recommended for my students. He has the ability to clearly state abstract terminology which, for some, eases the learning transition to Ada technology. A required text for anyone in the software development arena thinking about using Ada or is already using it.

Excellent source for the details of Ada 95. Lots of excellent examples. I use this as the textbook for an Advanced Ada course that I teach. Mark Oestmann