No comments about Ada for Software Engineers.

No comments about High Integrity Ada: The Spark Approach.

No comments about Ada 95: The Lovelace Tutorial.

1 comments about High Integrity Software: The SPARK Approach to Safety and Security.

1. If you are in the business of creating serious software that is safety critical or security related then this book is essential reading, it is also an excellent guide if you have an interest in how such software is created. Focusing on how the SPARK language assures correctness throughout the construction of the software and how the supporting tools allow analysis of the resulting program, the book forms an essential reference work for users of the SPARK approach to developing software.

   This book consists of three main parts plus an appendix.
   The first part consists of an overview of why SPARK was created and the background to the language and tools.
   Part two looks in detail at the SPARK language.
   Part three considers the tools available; various code analysis techniques and design issues that can help in the development of high integrity software. Three small case studies are included, together with some examples of real projects where SPARK has been used in large scale industrial projects.
   The Appendix covers the syntax of SPARK, how to use the CD-ROM and some notes on the continuing developments of the evolution of SPARK.
   The included CD-ROM allows you to try out some of what the book teaches and includes limited versions of the SPARK Examiner toolset.

   In this book John Barnes writes in a style similar to his other texts; this is rather like a guiding teacher leaning over your shoulder as you work at the computer, pointing out things to observe and illustrating with snippets of code or background information. It is a style that has been criticised by some, but I find it rather reassuring as you are guided along the path to understanding. The inclusion of a CD-ROM also allows you to understand by doing, and although the tool is limited in capability, it is possible to get a good flavour of the capabilities of its parent product.

   This book replaces the previous SPARK book: "High Integrity Ada : The SPARK Approach". Barnes covers the revisions and enhancements of the SPARK language described in his original book, if you are an existing user of SPARK, you need this issue to stay up-to-date with the important revisions of the language and tools. This book tries to distance itself somewhat from Ada95, possibly because of the image that language has with less well-informed programmers, but since you need an Ada compiler to produce executables from SPARK programs it would be fair to point out that SPARK is firmly rooted in Ada95.

   Creating high integrity software is a disciplined process, and the book is very much based in the practical application of SPARK in building high integrity software. The SPARK language is based solid mathematical foundations, but there is no detailed descriptions at this level, the book rightly points out that they are there and then moves on towards giving you the practical information you need to write SPARK programs. Mastering SPARK gives you unprecedented skills in the highly desirable field of producing high integrity software.

   Thus spake the Master programmer:
   "A well written program is its own heaven; a poorly written program is its own hell."
   - - from The Tao of Programming

No comments about Programming in Ada Plus Language Reference Manual (International Computer Science Series).

1 comments about Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: A Selection from the Letters of Lord Byron's Daughter and Her Description of the First Computer (The Pickering Masters).

1. A very pleasant biography in an original format, allowing for a good understanding of the main character. Typical american biography, where few details are untold, and where the author remains "transparent". We have to assume that B.A.Toole likes Ada, since she wrote a book about her, but we can't figure out why: was it beause she was Byron's daughter, or because she was Babbage's assistant, or because she lived an interesting life, or because she worked on early computers, or for any other reason... It might be a quality of good biographers, but as a French guy, I like to feel a greater intimacy between the autobiographer and the central character. A small disappointment: the lack of details regarding Ada's program for computing Bernouilli's numbers. Having computed some of those by myself, I know what an advantage it is to have at one's disposal a good algorithm to shorten fastidious calculations. In Toole's book, those numbers are barely mentioned, and the chapter 12, even though revised by an US Army colonel,doesn't explain why the Dept of Defense has chosen the ADA language. This having ben said, I took a great pleasure in reading a book which taught me a lot, even if Toole is too discreet on "an affair" that young Ada had when she was 17 years old with one of her preceptors (the great Turner?). Again the French side in me would have liked more details on that topic... Iconography is nice and all graphics are useful. All in all, a very good book to be read by all those who feel interested by an extraordinary woman who remains too little known by the general public.

No comments about Ada 2005 Rationale: The Language, The Standard Libraries (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).

No comments about Ada: A First Course in Programming and Software Engineering (International Computer Science Series).

5 comments about Software Engineering with ADA (3rd Edition) (The Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series).

1. I found it readable and useful



2. Note: Amazon doesn't allow ratings lower than 1 star.

   I think I had the original of this book. I use the word "had", as I burnt it - the one positive contribution it made to my life was fifteen minutes of warmth. This edition's apologist tones on behalf of the Ada fraud were not only misleading to someone searching for better software engineering tools, but insulting to those who knew the awful truth and had to wrestle with it every day.

   Booch knows *lots* about software engineering, but he sure didn't know s**t from shinola about progamming languages when he wrote this book. Either that or he was under contract by DoD to uncritically write it. Some especially noxious parts of the book look like they were lifted straight from the DoD LRM.

   Of course everything may have been remedied with the 3rd edition and Ada 9x. Oh, and diamonds may come from my bum.




3. I am trying to do some quick refresher reading on ada for a job interview and this book has been sitting around unread since i went on an ada course 5 or so years ago. It would be less painful to swallow this book whole and pass it out the other end in the same state than read it. Its riddled with profound opinions on the philosophy behind the language and i skipped the first 4 chapters as irrelevant rubbish but still have the rest padded out excessively with this stuff instead of getting down to the actual language. I think I should have read the book I got back in 1983 written by the course lecturer instead even though it was published before the language was finalised



4. This was the first book I read back when Ada was brand new and so it holds a nostalgic place in my heart which saves it from a lower rating. It is not a good resource for learning Ada but it can help you break the procedural thinking mold and begin to think of the world as objects. It is not one of the better books on Ada or Software Engineering but you could do worse. My thoughts are with relation to the earliest edition but, from reading the other reviews, it sounds as though the 3rd edition is not a great improvement.



5. Can't find the source code for the examples in the book. Didn't see a CD holder in the book either. It would be helpful to have these so to compile, port over, transport, etc.
   
   That said, the book is very readable, although it does fall under the realm of "Software Engineering". I.e., lots of software engineering topics that slow one down if Ada is all they need. On the other hand, the software engineering principles were very useful and very well put. E.g., a summation of OO development was put forth as: "Identify the objects. Identify the operations. Establish the visibility. Establish the interface. Implement each object." You can't put it forth any easier than that. And it sticks too.
   
   Steph

3 comments about Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers: Prophet of the Computer Age.

1. This book is not about Ada but rather the author's defense of Ada's image and place in history.

   There are gratuitous associations of Ada Lovelace to truly famous geniuses and science. For instance, this part of a letter (page 124) --

   It cannot help striking me that *this* extension of Algebra ought to lead to a *further extension* similar in nature, to the *Geometry of Three Dimensions*; & that again perhaps to a further extension in some unknown region & so ad-infinitum possibly...

   -- leads to this comparison (page 122) --

   In the next series of letters Ada hyposthesized a geometry of the "fourth dimension." Several popular books today deal with this subject: Rudy Rucker's The Fourth Dimension, Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, and Philip Davis's Descartes' Dream.

   I don't see any reference in Ada's letter to time. I expect it is simple 4 dimensional geometry she is thinking of.

   There is some incredible gushing over the programming language ADA. This book was written in 1992, when it surely should have been obvious that ADA was not the be-all and end-all. Yet the author has apprently fallen hook, line, and sinker for the party line over the programming language named after her hero. Here are some examples. Note these are the author's words, not Ada Lovelace's.

   Pages 176-177: It is accordingly most fitting that the programming language ADA, developed in the early 1980s by the US Department of Defense, provides the most precise facilities for this software development (specification) task of any general-purpose software language for large-scale problems existing today.

   Add this idolatry to the author's infatuation with Ada Lovelace, and the reuslt is some far-fetched comparisons between Ada Lovelace's documentation and later computer concepts.

   Page 179: Here again, the ADA software language contains somewhat unique facilities corresponding in a sense to Ada's insight... A second unuusual ADA facility, exception handling, reflects in a ! different but related way Ada's vision of the Analytical Engines's superiority over the DIfference Engine...In a sense the ADA language exception handler operates at a level of control above the program itself, confirming Ada's foresight.

   Page 185: One can read into the following quotations the germ of perhaps the most important advance in software development in the past twenty years, an idea variously referred to (in its many forms) as *sbatraction*, *modularity*, *separation of concerns*, *information hiding*, or *object-oriented design*.

   Pages 187-188: In the first excerpt from Note D, Ada commended the use of indices, a now-basic technique for reducing complexity in the processing of regular data structures.

   Page 190: ...Then she expanded the visual image she had of weaving and symmetry to highlight the *cycle*, a conceptual building block of programs for both the Analytical Engine and later the computer.

   This exaggeration is also extended to Babbage's Analytical Engine.

   Page 173: Babbage planned to store over 1000 fifty-digit numbers.

   Page 181: It was not until the mid-1960s that the modern computer could store as many digit numbers as did the Analytical Engine.

   Quite wrong; I worked on computers from the 1950s that had more storage capacity.

   Pages 186-187 compare Babbage finding a new use for the Jacquard loom punched card to software reuse: Some predict that the 1990s will be the decade in which software reuse becomes the principal software development mechanism, and that the ADA software language, which simplifies software reuse because of its precise interface specification and generic subprogram facilities, will lead the way.

   Page 189 compares multiple Analytical Engines operating together to current parallel supercomputers, with further comments on ADA supporting this.




2. Toole's book is an excellent introduction to the life and work of the mathematical visionary, Ada Byron King. Toole's treatment allows the reader access to King's luminous mind--no small achievement.

   Although it may not be appreciated by those who clearly clearly wish to argue with issues external to the text, I highly reccomend "Ada" to anyone who enjoys work which is sensitive, illuminating, and well-written.

   There will probably be a richly-deserved resurgance of interest in King's life and work after the wide release of Lynn Hershman Leeson's film "Conceiving Ada," and Toole's book will be a fine resource for all who are inspired or intrigued by this singular figure.




3. I have reviewed most of the books that are readily available on Ada. This book was well written and Dr. Toole is truly the recognized authority of Ada and her life. I found an earlier edition of this book through interlibrary loan and was disappointed that this edition did not offer the same illustrations and pictures. If you are interested in finding out more about Ada especially from her own letters, this is truly one of the best books out there. I would recommend reading at least one other book on Ada Lovlace in addition to this one, for balance, at times Dr. Toole may have been too kind to Ada's memory.

   Ada is a great role model for girls, her life had much turmoil and many obstacles. She fought for her right to do math (and early computer science) in a male society. This book may be a little too steep for early high school reading, a really fabulous young adult book on this subject is Ada Byron Lovelace : The Lady and the Computer (People in Focus Book) by Mary Dodson Wade.