C Programmers, Time To Try Ada

If you are a C programmer then you probably heard about Ada but discounted it because it isn't C. The typical view of Ada is that it is only for military applications. There are a host of myths and facts that typically get mixed up when talking about any non-C language. Some are true, most are not.

I started out programming in Basic and spent most of my time working with assembler and C. I've done production work with everything from APL, Algol, PL/I, Turbo Pascal and Cobol just to mention a few. Ada was never on that list but after working with it lately it should have been. It is why I recommend that C programmers take a look at it because you will likely wind up with code that has fewer bugs. It will also be easier to create safe and reliable software compared to using C.

I am going to highlight some areas that I think distinguish the latest incarnation, Ada 2012. These include contracts, multitasking, object and package system. This isn't an intro to Ada. There are other documents that do that much better.

If you want to check out some of the ideas presented here you can take advantage of one of the free Ada development platforms like GNAT available at Adacore's download site. This includes an Eclipse plug-in called GNATBench.