[GAP] Ada 2005 API

[John McCormick]

Ned

Your description is exactly what I hear from my students.  While us 
old folks are competent at searching paper documentation (or paper 
documentation in electronic form) our students are not.

Their search skills are derived from the web.  The Java standard 
library you referenced is the gold standard for my students.  It is 
very difficult for me to convince my students to search the 
ARM.   The disadvantages of textbooks like John Barnes' and my own is 
that they don't cover all of the operations available in the 
annexes.  And while we can complain all we like, students tend to 
avoid reading the textbooks to find the answers.

Perhaps designing an online document for Ada such as exists for Java 
could be a nice student project.

John

At 05:12 PM 2/21/2008 -0500, you wrote:
>Sorry that my original question may not have been clear.  Yes, the
>question is referring to the online docs for the java standard library,
>which, of course, is found here:
>
>   http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/api/
>
>This page, which is the first hit on a google search for "java api",
>refers to itself as the "API specification for the Java 2 Platform
>Standard Edition 5.0".
>
>Here is the actual student question that prompted my request: "Is there
>a good ADA online API that you know of? I've been googling it and I
>can't seem to find anything. I was thinking that there might be
>something similar to the online java API."  Students ask essentially the
>same question several times each semester.  They want an online
>reference that will provides quick answers to questions such as what
>routine converts an unbounded string to a string, what routines are
>available for the Calendar package, and what kinds of containers are
>available.
>
>Part of my task in working with these students is overcoming their "why
>do we have to learn this language" mentality.  A part of  that mentality
>seems to stem from their frustration in not having a quick and familiar
>online way to access to information on the predefined library.  The
>section Annex A of the Reference Manual contains this information, but
>it is presented differently from what they are used to, and in some ways
>it is less convenient than the "java api".  Many of the students have
>copies of Barnes's Ada 2005 book, and so they can get clear explanations
>of the predefined library when they have the book with them, but they
>also want an online reference.
>
>Ned
>
>--
>Edward G. Okie (Ned)
>Professor of Computer Science                www.it.radford.edu/~nokie
>Department of Information Technology         nokie at radford.edu
>219 Davis Hall                               540-831-5992 (Office)
>Radford University                           540-831-6706 (FAX)
>Radford VA, 24142-6933
>
>
>
>baker at cs.fsu.edu wrote:
> > This is an interesting query, for me, since it uses the term "API" in
> > a way that I find new.  For me "API = Application Program Interface",
> > and the interface to some language-independent service, say an OS or a
> > database.
> > Thus, Florist would be the Ada API for Unix, and the Unix C libraries
> > would provide an API for the same thing.  Here, the term "API" seems
> > to be referring to the online documentation for the Java standard
> > libraries.  Is that correct?  If so, then Arnaud's answer would be the
> > most apropos.  --Ted
> >
> > Quoting Edmond Schonberg <schonberg at adacore.com>:
> >
> >
> >> On Feb 21, 2008, at 12:02 PM, Edward G. Okie wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> Does anyone know of an Ada API specification anywhere on the web?
> >>>
> >>> My students who are learning Ada frequently ask me whether there is an
> >>> Ada API specification available on the web.  When they learned Java,
> >>> they typically relied heavily on the online Java API, and as they are
> >>>
> >> This may be the problem.  The core of the language is quite
> >> independent of API's.  The type model, the control structures,
> >> subprograms and parameter passing,  genericity, concurrency, etc. do
> >> not need any API's to be understood.  If your students are looking
> >> for other interfaces when the core of the language provides
> >> everything they need, they are  looking in the wrong place.  This
> >> means that the motivation must be other than to write web
> >> applications, of course.
> >>
> >>
> >>> learning Ada they are a bit frustrated to not have a similar
> >>> reference.
> >>> There is a version for Ada 95 available on the AdaBrowse site, but I
> >>> don't know of anything similar for Ada 05.  The Ada Reference Manual
> >>> does provide similar information, but they want something closer to
> >>> the
> >>> Java API.
> >>>
> >>>
> >> Ed Schonberg
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> >
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John W. McCormick 			mccormick at cs.uni.edu
Computer Science Department
University of Northern Iowa 		voice (319) 273-6056
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0507 		fax (319) 273-7123
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~mccormic/