Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!dptg!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!wuarchive!swbatl!texbell!sugar!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc Subject: Re: Learning Ada Message-ID: <5617@ficc.uu.net> Date: 9 Aug 89 14:22:58 GMT References: <2550@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> <6205@hubcap.clemson.edu> <5595@ficc.uu.net> <15126@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU> Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 29 [ I sed, Pascal tends to produce simpler error messages than ADA ] In article <15126@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU>, zuhn@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (david d [zoo] zuhn) writes: > I disagree there. Obvious syntax errors are obvious syntax errors. > and any course which introduces a language doesn't make full use of that > language. True, but the compiler does. With real languages like ADA or C where errors can be buried in a mess of packages, and a typo can produce a completely weird error message if you don't understand the more advanced concepts in the language. Or do you just tell them the way to fix the problem without explaining why they went wrong? Really, there are reasons to use a language designed for teaching, like Pascal or Logo. And one of them is that with a smaller universe to deal with it's much easier for the compiler writer to produce error messages that will be meaningful to novices. 10 a = a + b ^-------- Warning: replaced '=' with ':='. 11 c = 5 ^-------- Warning: missing ';' before this statement. ^-------- Warning: replaced '=' with ':='. -- Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation. Business: peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180. | "The sentence I am now Personal: peter@sugar.hackercorp.com. `-_-' | writing is the sentence Quote: Have you hugged your wolf today? 'U` | you are now reading"