Learning Ada 2012 by writing simple games

This is an informal text that will take you through a series of sample programs for you to learn the rudiments of the language. Ada is used for very serious industrial software requiring high reliability. Learning the basics of Ada programming, however, should be fun and enjoyable, and what better way is there to do this than by creating some amusing games. The text does not cover Ada in full, but gives a taste of the language and by the end of it you should be familiar with the core elements of the language as well as concepts of object oriented programming, concurrency and much more.

There are many books and websites to turn to for more details, and the ultimate authority is the Language Reference Manual (LRM) and the Language Rationale (both available free, online). For more information, please visit www.adaic.com and adacore.com. The Ada LRM is the official language definition. It includes snippets of code that are very useful for learners so if you want to know how a feature works, you should read the LRM, although it is a bit cryptic for beginners.

The approach and the games were inspired by and are based on the book “Beginning C++ Through Game Programming” (Third Edition) by Michael Dawson. Readers are encouraged to buy Michael’s book for his insights into software design and Object Oriented Design and Programming.

This text, much like the language, is a work in progress, so please email comments/suggestions to dclusyd@gmail.com

Ada began in the 80’s, with the first release being Ada 83. This was followed by Ada 95, which added extensive object-oriented capabilities, Ada 2005, which added containers and (currently) Ada 2012, which added tools for security and reliability. We will introduce many of these features with our games. From here on in, Ada will mean Ada 2012.