Preface

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I anticipate a steady rise in the number software professionals wishing to learn Ada. This volume is designed to help them in the learning process. My anticipation is based on two things:


Objectives - LearnAda Volume 1 was written with two objectives in mind.

This first volume provides an overview of the language, along with basic reference material. Later volumes will focus on specific problem domains and/or specialized areas that cross several domains.


Intended Audience - Volume 1 of LearnAda is intended for people who have prior experience in programming with one or more high-level languages, and who desire a quick way of learning Ada and finding coded examples of language features or concepts. Here are some example descriptions of individuals who can benefit from this product:

LearnAda was designed so that individuals with different backgrounds and learning styles can benefit by using it in different ways, as part of a self-directed, exploratory learning process. See  Organization and Use of this Volume  in Chapter 1.


Relationship to HOT_Ada - An older series of products known as "Hypergraphic tutorials in Object Technology and Ada 95" or "HOT_Ada" has some things in common with LearnAda, such as a common author and heavy use of graphics and hyperlinking. But, HOT_Ada has been available only on Windows platforms. (The first version was created on and for Macintosh platforms in 1994.) The browser-based version of LearnAda is available on multiple platforms and has a very familiar user interface to all. Furthermore, the underlying material and examples have been completely reorganized, expanded and improved, leading to a far superior learning and reference product, in my opinion.


Acknowledgements - Thanks are due, first of all, to the brilliant members of the two Ada design teams, led by Jean Ichbiah (Ada 83) and Tucker Taft (Ada 95), and to Christine Anderson, who, by all accounts, did a wonderful job in directing the "Ada 9X" language-upgrade effort on behalf on the United States Department of Defense. See A Brief History of Ada.

I also wish to express appreciation to the many authors of text books and articles on Ada and object technology, particularly John Barnes, Moti Ben-Ari, Grady Booch, Norman Cohen, Michael Feldman, Dean Gonzales, Richard Riehle, and Ken Shumate. See References and Web Sites and Other Resources. The particular texts that had the most influence on this volume were [Cohen96], [Barnes96], [Ben-Ari98], and [Gonzalez91]. Gonzalez's "Ada Programmers Handbook" is organized as a large glossary (covering Ada 83), and became part of the inspiration for the Glossary/Index of this volume.

As a steady follower of the comp.lang.ada interest group on the internet, I want to thank the many participants, including those who ask for advice as well as those who take the time to respond. Particularly helpful in offering answers have been: Robert Dewar, Tucker Taft, Mathew Heaney and David Hoos. Special thanks are due to Ben Brosgol, who provided sound and frequent advice during the early development of HOT_Ada, and participated directly in the volumes devoted to Information Systems.

Finally, I want to thank the many users of HOT_Ada (too numerous to mention by name) who took the time to provide comments and suggestions. This practice has already begun with preliminary versions of LearnAda, and thanks are due to John Harbaugh, Rush Kester and Marin Condic. See Feedback.

Bard S. Crawford
Lexington, Massachusetts
February, 2000
bard@learnada.com
bscrawford@aol.com

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