Tutorial

SF1: Introduction to Ada

The George Washington University USA Mfeldman@GWU.Edu

Michael B. Feldman

Abstract
Level Beginner, but attendees should have some experience with a high-level programming language. This tutorial is designed for those who have some familiarity with a programming language, but who are new to Ada. In the morning, we will discuss the basics of programming in Ada, including types, packages, syntax rules, and other Ada programming constructs. In the afternoon, we will cover Ada's object-oriented programming and concurrent-programming features. Many examples will be shown; freely downloadable Ada programming environments and tools will be demonstrated.

Categories & Subject Descriptors: D.2 Software Engineering, D.3 Programming Languages General Terms: Algorithms, Design, Documentation, Languages, Measurement, Performance,
Reliability, Security, Standardization, Verification.

Bio
Michael B. Feldman received the B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer and Information Sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1975, Dr. Feldman joined the Computer Science faculty at The George Washington University, from which he retired in 2007 as Professor Emeritus. He now resides in Portland, Oregon. While at GW, he taught a large number of different courses, from freshman to doctoral level. For many years he was responsible for the CS majors-oriented introductory programming course, and the undergraduate data structures and real-time systems courses. He received the Computer Science Professor of the Year Award in 2002, 2003, and 2006, and the University's Oscar and Shoshana Trachtenberg Teaching Prize in 2003. From 1999 to 2005, he served as chairman of the Computer Science Curriculum Committee. Dr. Feldman is an experienced teacher of Ada and Java and other computer programming languages: his University courses have been well received and his tutorials and short courses have had a number of government and industry clients. He is the author of "Ada 95: Problem Solving and Program Design," and "Software Construction and Data Structures with Ada 95," which have been among the best-selling texts of their kind. The latter book's Ada 83 edition, published in 1985, was the first Adarelated text specifically targeted to undergraduate courses. Dr. Feldman also wrote "Ada 95 in Context" -- the Ada chapter in Macmillan's "Handbook of Programming Languages" -- as well as the Software Engineering Institute Curriculum Module CM-25, "Language and System Support for Concurrent Programming," and "Inspiring Our Undergraduate Students' Aspirations," published in the quarterly of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education. Dr. Feldman is Chair of the Education Working Group of ACM SIGAda, the Special Interest Group on Ada. He is also the editor of "Who's Using Ada?", a web-based catalog of fielded projects that have used Ada as their programming language.
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). SIGAda08, October 2630, 2008, Portland, Oregon, USA. ACM 978-1-60558-274-0/08/10.