Postdigital Computing

Ada (and a little love for Pascal)

As any other GenX developer out here, my first computer was a home computer of the late 80s. A C64 to be more precise, if we don't consider the time spent on a friend's ZX81. It was impossibile not to love the ZX81 in its bare simplicity, but the C64 was of course easier to use and, in some way, more professional. And it had a satisfying Basic, which I gladly explored with silly code.

I respect Basic also because coding in Basic I earned my first real developer money. So, thanks Basic. But I fell in love immediately with Pascal when I got into the Turbo Pascal frenzy of old times. Pascal led me to Modula-2, that I extensively used in university projects. And then to Ada, even if it isn't a Wirth-certified language. Oberon was, but... well, no. I like software development niches but there's a limit also in my digital masochism.

So, Ada. I like Lisp also for its cryptic, sometimes almost runic, syntax. Ada is the opposite: a language you like - if you like it, I mean - for its verbosity. There could almost no ambiguity in Ada code, and Ada has also been a by-design safe language for ages, well before the current Rust-ish mania. Also, it's an official standard and this is definitely a plus.

Ada is certainly worth a try if you like Pascal-style syntax and approach. You can simply code in Ada and compile your stuff, as in the old days. Otherwise, if you need - or you think you need - a crate manager a-la-cargo, there's Alire. It helps with complex programs, it's not necessary for pet projects.