bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Innovative computer services for minority colleges
Authors: Lewis Jesse C.
Published: July 2004

The word “innovative” in the title of this paper does not imply that the colleges involved have found or invented some new computer technology to apply to instruction and research. If the word innovative in appropriate at all, it applies to the way we are using the computer or to the fact that for the first time students in a few minority institutions have access to what maybe one of the most valuable tools in education.

I have long advocated that the motivational effect and other advantages of the instructional uses of computers should be applied where it is needed most. It is my opinion that the culturally and economically advantaged students (for example, those students who can afford to go to college in Hanover, N. H.) would be successful in college and life with or without access to computer based instruction. However, this may not be true for some students who go to college in Itta Bena, Ms. There is a great need to motivate and provide individualized instruction for students who have net been exposed to many of the advantages of our society.
A hands-on approach to teaching systems programming
Authors: Lane Malcolm G.
Published: July 2004

Historically, the teaching of systems programming has been undertaken using a variety of techniques. In order to provide students with the best possible learning experience, an approach which allows the students “hands-on” experience on some computer system is desirable. Such a “hands-on” approach has proved to be successful in a course in systems programming for over three years at West Virginia University. The approach is discussed in detail and the results of the three years' experience using this approach on an IBM 1130 computer system are presented.
A Computer Science program at a college with limited resources
Authors: Wardle Caroline
Published: July 2004

At Hunter College, the B.A. degree in Computer Science was the work of two people, whose goals were to provide a high quality degree, with as much choice of program specialization as possible under the constraints imposed by Hunter. It was felt that the program should be structured so as to provide a useful background for obtaining a job in industry or business, for those students not intending to go on to graduate school. The City University of New York is committed to Open Enrollment which means that our students have extremely diverse academic backgrounds.

Because of limited commitment and resources, we have been forced to rely heavily on part-time instructors. Consequently we have not been able to offer all of the advanced courses on a regular basis.

As a result of these factors, we settled on a small program, offering two specializations, that could be covered with a minimum of full-time faculty backed up by adjuncts.
A Computer Science Practicum
Authors: Lancaster Ronald L. , Thomas Richard T.
Published: July 2004

An approach is described for introducing practical work experience into an undergraduate computer science curriculum. This approach differs from others which have been reported in that it is not necessary for the student to make any arrangements for academic credit in advance. The requirements for obtaining practicum credit are described, and examples of projects which have received such credit are given. This approach has made a significant contribution to the educational program by offering academic credit for learning experiences which are difficult to duplicate in a typical computer science curriculum.
The Master's Practicum
Authors: Webre Neil
Published: July 2004

There has been a continuing discussion in the SIGCSE Bulletin over the “gap” between the subject matter and methodology of Computer Science curricula and the needs of industry (1, 2, 3, 7, 8). There have been both denials that a gap exists, and reaffirmations of its existence. Two of the proposals for a solution to the problem have called for direct contact between students and industry during the education process. Goddard (9) discussed the internship and cooperative program at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The ACM curriculum recommendations for a Master of Information Systems degree(4) contain a course proposal for Systems Development Projects (course D3) which involves significant contact between students and industry.

This paper discusses the need for professional training during the education process and our attempt to provide such training within a Computer Science Masters degree program by means of a course, the Master's Practicum.
A first course in computer science
Authors: Hanson Allan , Maly Kurt
Published: July 2004

We feel that for a long time introductory computer science courses have degenerated into courses more appropriately titled “Introduction to the Programming Language X” where X has historically been FORTRAN or BASIC and more recently PL/I or APL. In this paper we propose an introductory course which first, and foremost, teaches problem-solving methodology with the
final
stage of it being translation of an algorithm into a well-structured program. And, second, it achieves this in conjunction with an introduction to the major areas of computer science.
A proposed Computer Science curriculum for two-year colleges
Authors: Peck Josephine
Published: July 2004

In the past decade many two-year colleges have developed and implemented various curricula in Data Processing and/or Computer Science. These programs grew out of existing vocational needs for computer operators, data prepares, EAM equipment operators and application programmers. Since very few four-year institutions offered a bachelor's program in Computer Science, the two-year schools generally did not develop a sequence of courses geared to the needs of the transfer student. These students were usually advised to concentrate in either mathematics or business administration - a situation which persists in many colleges today.

This paper will offer a discussion of several factors which have affected the needs of both the terminal and the transfer student of two-year colleges and which consequently warrant a revision of the existing two-year Computer Science curricula. A curriculum and description of revised course content will be suggested as one possible alternative.
Methods for teaching program verification
Authors: Gerhart Susan L.
Published: July 2004

“Program verification” is generally defined as the process of ascertaining and demonstrating that a program is correct, i.e., that a program satisfies a given set of specifications. The most common method of verifying a program is by
testing
, the process of executing a program for a set of selected inputs and inferring from the results of those executions that the program is correct for all possible inputs.

In practice today, a few programs are being proved correct but the most common method of program verification is still testing. Both methods are unreliable in different ways, but when combined, their complementary relationship can provide a high degree of assurance that programs are correct. The purpose of this paper is (1) to review the state of the art of these two approaches to program verification and the relationship between them, and (2) to suggest a number of ways in which program verification can be introduced into the computer science curriculum.
How to make abstract ideas more concrete
Authors: Kugel Peter
Published: July 2004

Games that students play, either against each other or against the computer, can help to make some of the abstract ideas from the theory of computing seem more concrete and more interesting than they now appear to many students. In this paper, I describe the general structure of some games based on such theoretical constructs as the Turing machine, the context-free grammar and the like. I indicate some of the ways that such games can be “built” either using pencil, paper and scrap materials or using computer programs. Some experiences with the use of such games, and some of their mathematical and pedagogical implications, are discussed.
Structured FORTRAN programming
Authors: Wagener J. L.
Published: July 2004

A technique for structuring FORTRAN programs is reviewed, and a preprocessor is described which converts pure structured code into standard FORTRAN. It is claimed that structured FORTRAN is generally easier to read and write than unstructured FORTRAN. Actual examples are given of structured FORTRAN and results of preprocessing.
A Software Quality Improvement Program
Authors: Woodmancy Donald A.
Published: July 2004

In late 1976, the NCR Corporation undertook a large scale Quality Improvement Program for a major set of systems software. That software set included some 103 separate products totaling 1.3 million source lines. It included several operating systems, several compilers, peripheral software, data utilities and telecommunications handlers. This paper will describe that effort and its results. The research and planning that were done to define the program will be described. The means by which the program was implemented will be discussed in detail. Finally, some results of the program will be identified.
Toward models for probabilistic program correctness
Authors: Duran Joe W. , Wiorkowski John J.
Published: July 2004

Program testing remains the major way in which program designers convince themselves of the validity of their programs. Software reliability measures based on hardware reliability concepts have been proposed, but adequate models of software reliability have not yet been developed. Investigators have recently studied formal program testing concepts, with promising results, but have not seriously considered quantitative measures of the “degree of correctness” of a program. We present models for determining, via testing, such probabilistic measures of program correctness as the probability that a program will run correctly on randomly chosen input data, confidence intervals on the number of errors remaining in a program, and the probability that the program has been completely tested. We also introduce a procedure for enhancing correctness estimates by quantifying the error reducing performance of the methods used to develop and debug a program.
The establishment and use of measures to evaluate the quality of software designs
Authors: Yin B. H. , Winchester J. W.
Published: July 2004

It has been recognized that success in producing designs that realize reliable software, even using Structured Design, is intimately dependent on the experience level of the designer. The gap in this methodology is the absence of easily applied quantitative measures of quality that ease the dependence of reliable systems on the rare availability of expert designers.

Several metrics have been devised which, when applied to design structure charts, can pinpoint sections of a design that may cause problems during coding, debugging, integration, and modification. These metrics can help provide an independent, unbiased evaluation of design quality. These metrics have been validated against program error data of two recently completed software projects at Hughes. The results indicate that the metrics can provide a predictive measure of program errors experienced during program development.

Guidelines for interpreting the design metric values are summarized and a brief description of an interactive structure chart graphics system to simplify metric value calculation is presented.
A measurement of structure for unstructured programming languages
Authors: Cobb Gary W.
Published: July 2004

Software Science is a field of Natural Science which deals with the development of measurements which reveal properties of software programs. These measurements are qualified as to their degree of correlation to human beings being able to construct or understand a subject program. Maurice Halstead has pioneered much of the theories in this field ((5) through (10)), which applies statistical and psychological testing techniques to the evaluation of the measurements. The basic inputs to the Halstead predictors are easily measured: the number of distinct operators and operands, and the number of occurrences of the operators and operands. Due to the statistical nature of the measurements, there can be erroneous results when applying them to small sample spaces. However, the predictors are very adequate when applied to large samples, that is, large software systems. In an excellent review article by Fitzsimmons and Love (4), it is pointed out that several of the estimators defined by Halstead assumed that the subject programs were well-structured, and inaccurancy in the predictors can result if they are applied to "unpolished" programs. In fact, Halstead qualified six classes of impurities in code which can cause the length predictor to be inaccurate.

The definition of volume for software, another predictor introduced in Halstead's book, is related to the level of the specification of the program. An algorithm which is written in assembly language will have a greater volume than the same algorithm written in Pascal, due to the richness of the semantic constructs that are available in the higher-level languages. Hence, this predictor is language dependent.
Are current approaches sufficient for measuring software quality?
Authors: Bowen John B.
Published: July 2004

Numerous software quality studies have been performed over the past three years-mostly sponsored by the Rome Air Development Center. It is proposed by the author that more emphasis should be placed on devising and validating quantitative metrics that are indicative of the quality of software when it is being designed and coded. Such measures could be applied effectively, as relative guidelines without formal validation. However for such measures to be predictive of the quality of the delivered software, they must be validated with actual operational error data or data gathered in a simulated operational environment. This paper includes a review of proposed metrics from the literature a report of a Hughes intramodule metric study, and recommendations for refining proposed software quality assurance criteria.
The value of a proper software quality assurance methodology
Authors: Tighe Michael F.
Published: July 2004

This paper describes the experiences of a project development team during an attempt to ensure the quality of a new software product. This product was created by a team of software engineers at Digital Equipment Corporation, a mainframe manufacturer. As a result, the definition of “to ensure the quality of a software product” meant minimizing the maintenance costs of the new product. Ease of maintenance and a low bug rate after release to the customer were very important goals from the beginning of the project.

This paper compares the degree of application and resultant effects of several software quality assurance methodologies upon different parts of the final product. Many of the product's subsystems were created using all of the discussed methodologies rigorously. Some subsystems were created with little or no use of the methodologies. Other subsystems used a mixture. The observed quality of the various subsystems when related to the methodology used to create them provides insights into the interactions between the methodologies. These observations also supply additional experience to reinforce established beliefs concerning the value of quality assurance methodologies.
Methods of teaching a computer science course for prospective teachers
Authors: Lapidot Tami , Hazzan Orit
Published: July 2004

This article focuses on a "Methods of Teaching Computer Science in the High School" course (abbreviated MTCS). It presents the rationale and need for the course, and suggests optional course frameworks and implementations that are not limited to a particular programming language, programming paradigm, level of students, or curriculum.
Project-centered teaching on CBIS to IBBA students in Hong Kong
Authors: Wong Jacqueline , Du Timon
Published: July 2004

Knowledge of computer-based information systems (CBIS) is important to business administration (BA) students. The curriculum for CBIS should be different from the fundamentals of computer science (CS1 and CS2) because of the students' backgrounds. This paper discusses a project-centered teaching method for CBIS for BA students. Following three years of experience with this approach, the feedback from more than 500 students is encouraging.
Why computer science students need language
Authors: Beaubouef Theresa
Published: July 2004

Many students enter the field of computer science with misconceptions about the importance of communication skills. They often choose this field, thinking they will end up with jobs working alone or with other "techies" developing computer games, and not having to deal with people. These students often do not realize the significance of reading, writing, and speaking skills in computer science. This paper discusses several relevant areas of computer science, and explains why computer science students need skills covered in English, speech, technical writing, and even foreign language courses in order to achieve success as a computing professional.
Women in computing programs
Authors: Randall Cindy , Price Barbara , Reichgelt Han
Published: July 2004

Despite the fact that demand for employees with skills in computing still exceeds supply, there has been a steady decline in the number of women entering and graduating from computer science programs. Many attempts have been made to remedy the situation. A recurrent theme for both engineering and computer science programs is that programs can be made more attractive to women if they place a greater emphasis on applications of the technology. To date, most of the research on the under-representation of women has been conducted on computer science programs, and ignores the fact that many students enter the IT workplace with degrees in Information Systems (IS) or Information Technology (IT). Moreover, programs in IS and IT place a greater emphasis on applications. Given the reported importance of applications for the recruitment and retention of women, one might expect to see a higher participation of women in these programs. Using data obtained from baccalaureate or above institutions within the University System of Georgia, this paper shows that this indeed seems to be the case.
Network protocols
Authors: Chung Sei-Jong
Published: July 2004

While the construction of
Hamming Codes
that can detect and correct 1-bit transmission errors has been illustrated [1], Hamming Codes that will detect and correct transmission errors of more than 1 bit remain yet to be constructed. In this paper, how to build
Group Codes
that can correct transmission errors of up to 2 bits will be shown. Note that transmission control protocols such as TCP/IP rely upon the notion of checksums", a variation of Hamming Codes, for their transmission error correction. The ease and efficiency with which the group codes can be built will then be compared to those of Hamming Codes and Cyclic Redundancy Checking, the transmission error detection/correction schemes discussed in [1].
Program optimization
Authors: Rolfe Timothy J.
Published: July 2004

Matrix multiplication in linear algebra provides a useful problem through which one can investigate optimizations based on local access to memory rather than scattered access, and on the use of pointers in places of array subscripting. Benchmarking results favor a pointer-based implementation with a reordering of the three loops in the definition.
A translation of the one-to-one relationship for introductory relational database courses
Authors: Bernick Jonathan P.
Published: July 2004

The translation of the one-to-one relationship from the Entity/Relationship model to the relational model while preserving one-to-one correspondence between the members of the participating entity sets is a topic that has been neglected in introductory database textbooks. In this paper, we provide a simple method, intended for students taking a first course in relational database design, that accomplishes this without introducing nulls or violating the relational model.
Assessment of a resource limited process for multidisciplinary projects
Authors: Burnell Lisa J. , Priest John W. , Durrett John R.
Published: July 2004

Collaborative multidisciplinary team based education is increasingly recognized as a necessary component in the preparation of technical students for the workplace. This article presents a quantified assessment of a limited-resource process for teaching software product development combining students in computer science, engineering, and business at multiple universities within existing curriculum. Results indicate that the approach is useful in a resource restricted setting, as well as a providing an evolutionary step to the development of full-scale curricular changes that aim to provide students the skills needed to function in an increasingly distributed, multidisciplinary product development environment.
Teaching software engineering in the computer science curriculum
Authors: Curran W. S.
Published: July 2004

The goals of computer science department and software engineering courses are not always clear as they could be, and exactly how much of a computer science curriculum should be spent on software engineering topics at the expense of topics with more immediate relevance to computer science majors is far from clear. Computer science students are sometimes skeptical about the relevance of software engineering course topics, particularly those who have had some experience in industry. They report that the techniques and procedures covered in standard software engineering texts are seldom used in industry. There is not enough communication between Industry and Academia, and graduates often must be re-trained for their new jobs. This is a proposal for a modification in the approach to software engineering education for computer science majors, and for clarification of the goals of computer science programs, and calls for procedures to increase the relevancy of computer science and software engineering courses to meet the needs of industry.
Model determination tool (MDT)
Authors: Pickard Michael M. , Adams Jason R.
Published: July 2004

This paper describes a technique used in introductory undergraduate and graduate software engineering courses at Stephen F. Austin State University. It provided a team software development experience, encouraged enriched learning about software process models, served as the object of black-box testing, and gave students the opportunity to perform software maintenance activities that mimic real-life situations. A graduate software engineering class developed a tool to recommend consideration of appropriate software process models according to the responses to a small set of questions concerning the development environment and the nature of the project. Later, undergraduate classes performed black-box testing to determine whether the artifact performed correctly. More than a year after the original development, a second graduate class was challenged to perform maintenance actions on the product, about which none of the students had any knowledge or experience.
Teaching data structures using list boxes
Authors: Bell Douglas , Mir-Ghasemi Mehdi
Published: July 2004

This paper suggests an approach to the initial teaching of data structures that uses GUI list boxes.
Object-oriented recursive descent parsing in C#
Authors: Saxon Charles S.
Published: July 2004

An object-oriented recursive descent parsing technique that is suitable for use in advanced programming classes where no language theory is required is presented. The C# code for a calculator is shown as an example.
A framework for applet animations with controls
Authors: Hu Chenglie
Published: July 2004

A generic Java™ applet animation with controls is presented in this paper. This framework implementation promotes software reusability in terms of applying modularity and factorization using inheritance, delegation, and template classes with cohesive methods. It can be used either as an example or a project in a typical object-oriented design and analysis class.
Systematic testing should not be a topic in the computer science curriculum!
Authors: Christensen Henrik Bærbak
Published: July 2004

In this paper we argue that treating "testing" as an isolated topic is a wrong approach in computer science and software engineering teaching. Instead testing should pervade practical topics and exercises in the computer science curriculum to teach students the importance of producing software of high quality. We point out that we, as teachers, are partly to blame that many software products are of low quality. We describe a set of teaching guidelines that conveys our main pedagogical point to the students: that systematic testing is important, rewarding, and fun, and that testing should be an integrated part of any software development process.
A service-learning program for computer science and software engineering
Authors: Linos Panagiotis K. , Herman Stephanie , Lally Julie
Published: July 2004

This paper presents a service-learning educational program called EPICS (Engineering Projects In Community Service). It also describes our efforts and experiences from incorporating this program within a Computer Science and Software Engineering curriculum. Our paper concludes by discussing various key challenges and some early lessons learned while crafting such program.
Capturing collaborative designs to assist the pedagogical process
Authors: Ratcliffe Mark , Thomas Lynda , Ellis Wayne , Thomasson Benjy
Published: July 2004

This paper describes a project being undertaken at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth that captures students' designs in an attempt to improve the pedagogy. To enhance their understanding of object oriented programming, students are given an environment that enables distance working and encourages group collaboration whilst capturing all aspects of development of their designs. To enhance the teaching of programming and software design, instructors are given access to complete design histories enabling them to better understand how the students view their design processes, the problems that arise and the steps that they take to resolve them.
A media computation course for non-majors
Authors: Guzdial Mark
Published: July 2004

Computing may well become considered an essential part of a liberal education, but introductory programming courses will not look like the way that they do today. Current CSI course are failing dramatically. We are developing a new course, to be taught starting in Spring 2003, which uses
computation for communication
as a guiding principle. Students learn to program by writing Python programs for manipulating sound, images, and movies. This paper describes the course development and the tools developed for the course. The talk will include the first round of assessment results.
Teaching programming to liberal arts students
Authors: Andersen Peter Bøgh , Bennedsen Jens , Brandorff Steffen , Caspersen Michael E. , Mosegaard Jesper
Published: July 2004

In this paper we present a new learning environment to be used in an introductory programming course for students that are non-majors in computer science, more precisely for multimedia students with a liberal arts background.Media-oriented programming adds new requirements to the craft of programming (e.g. aesthetic and communicative).We argue that multimedia students with a liberal arts background need programming competences because programmability is the defining characteristic of the computer medium. We compare programming with the creation of traditional media products and identify two important differences which give rise to extra competences needed by multimedia designers as opposed to traditional media product designers. We analyze the development process of multimedia products in order to incorporate this in the learning process, and based on this we present our vision for a new learning environment for an introductory programming course for multimedia students.We have designed a learning environment called
Lingoland
with the new skills of media programming in mind that hopefully can help alleviate the problems we have experienced in teaching programming to liberal arts students.
Tools and techniques for large scale grading using Web-based commercial off-the-shelf software
Authors: Lass Robert N. , Cera Christopher D. , Bomberger Nathaniel T. , Char Bruce , Popyack Jeffrey L. , Herrmann Nira , Zoski Paul
Published: July 2004

Courseware/Course Management Systems (CMS) such as WebCT or Blackboard are an increasingly popular way to provide a web presence for a course. However, their current web-browser reliance makes it difficult for them to provide functionality that could be useful to computer science instructors. This paper describes our augmentation of a CMS in a large introductory computer science class. It further describes our enhancement of the CMS by clientside software (i.e. residing on the graders computer), written for use by the instructors and graders. Finally, it indicates how conventional CMS architecture can be extended to provide additional functionality that would be desirable for computer science instruction.
A phenomenographic study of students' attitudes toward the use of multiple media for learning
Authors: Demetriadis Stavros , Triantfillou Evangelos , Pombortsis Andreas
Published: July 2004

Multimedia offer a variety of coding formats for presenting information and this variability is generally valued as a positive characteristic of any multimedia learning environment. This study investigates the idea that students' attitudes concerning the use of multiple media for learning exhibit a considerable variability (different feelings, modes of use, preferences and dislikes) and information about these various stances may help designers and educators to better integrate and use multiple media for educational purposes. Employing a phenomenographic research methodology students' attitudes were recorded, categorised and related to parameters such as their learning styles. Results of the study indicate that a) visual dynamic media (animation and digital movies) capture students' interest and generate subjective feelings of better learning, b) digital movies may enhance the perceived authenticity of the educational setting and this also increases students' interest, c) students transfer to the digital medium the need for learning techniques that they use in the printed medium and experience feelings of restriction if the environment does not adequately support the same techniques or satisfactory alternatives, d) acceptance of audio varies significantly depending on perceptual preferences of students and e) students displaying a high abstract conceptualisation learning style express preference for studying more abstract content using printed matter.
Still a stranger here
Authors: Moorman Phoenix , Johnson Elizabeth
Published: July 2004

Numerous studies have examined the possible explanations for the paucity of women with computer science majors in undergraduate studies. Much of this work has focused on the undergraduate years themselves. We present results from a survey of American secondary school students in advanced mathematics and computer science classes. We conclude that both male and female students continue to see computer science as a primarily "male" field and to make their career choices accordingly. We suggest two means to combat this perception - single-sex summer workshops for secondary school girls and mother-daughter computer science clubs for elementary school girls.
Challenges in teaching capstone courses
Authors: Adams Liz , Daniels Mats , Goold Annegret , Hazzan Orit , Lynch Kathy , Newman Ian
Published: July 2004

Many of us run capstone project courses and do so in different ways. The members of this panel come from different countries, belong to different types of institutions, teach in different computing disciplines and the capstone projects they run also vary considerably. Yet, there is a strong sense of consensus about what a capstone project is and how valuable it is as a learning experience for students.The panel discussion will serve as an inspiration to develop new, and change old capstone project courses. The main aim is to discuss why, or why not, different approaches work in a capstone project. What are the learning objectives behind the approach? What are the problems? What are the benefits? How is assessment managed? What resources, tools and techniques are used to administer and manage the projects?Concrete examples of how capstone projects are run at the six institutions represented by the panellists will be given, and issues such as framework, methodologies, project examples and technologies used in the process of producing projects will be addressed.
Introducing non-computer science undergraduates to Web development
Authors: Papastergiou Marina
Published: July 2004

In this study, we report on the results of a series of workshops aiming at introducing student teachers to Web development.
The role of two-year colleges in educating the cyber-security workforce
Authors: Campbell Robert D. , Hawthorne Elizabeth K. , Klee Karl J.
Published: July 2004

This poster presentation showcases a current project of the Two-Year College Education Committee, a standing committee of the ACM Education Board.
Designing and evaluating learning objects for introductory programming education
Authors: Chalk Peter , Bradley Claire , Pickard Poppy
Published: July 2004

We described a new approach to solving the problem of teaching first year software development, using web-based multimedia learning objects (LOs), which include student interaction, animation and self-assessment. A variety of evaluation techniques have been applied, including student questionnaires and interviews and server-side tracking. Results from the first semester are very encouraging and student performance has improved.
The effect of institutional characteristics on participation of women in computer science bachelors degree programs
Authors: Barker Lecia J. , Garvin-Doxas Kathy
Published: July 2004

The poster presents institutional characteristics that can statistically predict the proportion of female computer science bachelors' degrees conferred at institutions. School or college (e.g., engineering) has little predictive power in this model.
Observations from using two modes of teaching undergraduate computer architecture
Authors: Juliano Benjoe A. , Chen Chi-Hui , Kroumova Elena
Published: July 2004

This paper presents the authors' observations regarding two modes of teaching undergraduate computer architecture [2] conducted at California State University, Chico. Two sections of the course were offered: Section One was taught using a traditional classroom setup, while Section Two was taught in a classroom equipped for distance education. Although Section Two seemed to provide fewer opportunities for in-person, student-professor interaction, the students were given three options to choose how to access the class lectures. Students could (1) attend a live lecture on campus that was simultaneously being archived and broadcast on the Web; (2) attend a live lecture from a remote site via the Web; or (3) view archived class sessions via the Web. Access to live broadcasts or archived sessions was done using
HorizonLive
[1], a web-based teaching, learning, and interactive communications software platform.Archived lectures were available to all students registered in the course. Since the students in both sections were demographically proportional, the authors' dependent variable was the method of delivery. Using
HorizonLive's
tracking facilities, which keep track of every single access by each student, the authors were able to collect and analyze frequencies and patterns in accessing the course lectures. The authors also correlated results from student evaluations of the course with the tracking information. The authors conclude that even though students from Section Two enjoyed the flexibility of keeping up with the lectures at their own pace, the grade for undergraduate students did not reflect their overall satisfaction and time spent online. Students registered for Section Two of the course, on average, received lower grades than the students registered for Section One. The grade distributions are summarized in Figure 1. The grading policy for the computer architecture course was a minimum passing grade of C for undergraduate students and B for graduate students. Thus, 86% of the undergraduate students in Section One completed the course successfully, compared to 23% from Section Two. Alternatively, graduate students' grades were proportional to the time they spent accessing the online lectures: only 1 of the 3 graduate students of Section One passed the course, compared to 4 of the 5 graduate students in Section Two. Students seemed to have learned more of the course material due to the availability of the archived lectures.Since the sample size of this study is rather small, the statistics may biased. The data from this study seem to indicate that graduate students benefit more than undergraduates from web-based learning used to promote or enhance the traditional learning environment. Based on this study, the authors conclude that the time students spent accessing online lectures is not a significant factor to their final grades.
Animations in
PDF
Authors: Sojka Petr
Published: July 2004

This paper describes a technique to create interactive teaching materials as animations that are stored and distributed in PDF file format. PdfL
A
T
E
X with small macropackage, Maple and Javascript are used and allow the development of interactive animations of high typographical quality that are fine-tuned for on-the-screen reading.
A customized learning objects approach to teaching programming
Authors: Gunawardena Ananda , Adamchik Victor
Published: July 2004

We will discuss a unique content-creation, delivery and maintenance model for designing and teaching programming courses. This approach is based on the idea of creating customized learning objects, each of which is uniquely described by an XML document and presents an interface for future search, retrieval and update, as well as a potential connection to external assessment tools. We will demonstrate the electronic
Adoptive Book
that serves as an interactive, continuously up-to-date learning environment for students as well as an authoring tool for the instructor.
SysRel
Authors: BACIU Rodica
Published: July 2004

The proposal work describes a simulation developed to demonstrate different methods of computing the reliability of systems.
Student empowerment in a survey course
Authors: Goelman Don
Published: July 2004

The author, assigned to teach a new survey course based on guest lecturers, employs some meta-academic strategies to promote student learning.
Interactive teaching materials in PDF using JavaScript
Authors: Sojka Petr
Published: July 2004

The use of JavaScript language for adding interaction to portable teaching materials of a high typographical quality in PDF file format is described. An extended version of the program T
E
X called pdfT
E
X is extremely useful for such purposes. It is shown that applications similar to those done by CGI script on the web can be done in PDF, exploiting the embedded JavaScript engine implementation in PDF viewers.
Software engineering for large-scale multi-agent systems
Authors: Garcia Alessandro , Sardinha José , Lucena Carlos , Castro Jaelson , Leite Júlio , Milidiú Ruy , Romanovsky Alexander , Griss Martin , de Lemos Rogério , Perini Anna
Published: July 2004

This paper is intended to sum up the results of the Second International Workshop on
Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems
(SELMAS'03) held in Portland, Oregon, USA, May 3--4, 2003, as part of the
International Conference on Software Engineering
(ICSE'03). The main purpose of this workshop was to share and pool the collective experience of people, both academics and practitioners, who are actively working on software engineering for large-scale multi-agent systems. The call for papers elicited some 26 submissions, of which 19 papers were accepted for presentation. A selected set of the workshop papers and invited papers are to appear in the 2
nd
edition of the book
Software Engineering for Large-Scale Multi-Agent Systems
(LNCS, Springer, 2003). The workshop consisted of an opening presentation, several paper presentations organized into five sessions, and three panels. During the workshop we informally reviewed ongoing and previous work and debated a number of important issues. The SELMAS'03 Web page, including the papers and the electronic version of this report, can be found at . We begin by presenting an overview of our goals and the workshop structure, and then focus on the workshop technical program.
Summary
Authors: Cook Jonathan E. , Ernst Michael D.
Published: July 2004

Dynamic analysis of software systems has long proven to be a practical approach to gain understanding of the operational behavior of the system. This workshop brought together researchers in the field of dynamic analysis to discuss the breadth of the field, order the field along logical dimensions, expose common issues and approaches, and stimulate synergistic collaborations among the participants.
ICSE workshop on remote analysis and measurement of software systems (RAMSS)
Authors: Orso Alessandro , Porter Adam
Published: July 2004

The goal of this one-day workshop was to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in exploring how the characteristics of today's area of computing (e.g., high connectivity, substantial computing power for the average user, higher demand for and expectation of frequent software updates) can be leveraged to improve software quality and performance.
Research on interoperability of intelligent mobile agent for DIS
Authors: Sun Xiangjun , Liu Fengyu , Xu Manwu
Published: July 2004

In the operational simulation field, joint operational simulations bring complex dependencies between systems across different services. Different platforms and simulations also need interoperability, which attracts more and more attention of computer scientists. This paper introduces the Intelligent Mobile Agent into operational simulation field, it discusses the main research works about interoperability, then brings up an interoperability framework of Intelligent Mobile Agent for DIS, tries to make use of the Interoperability of Intelligence Mobile Agent to correct the current deficiency of distributed interactive operational simulation systems. Experimental system we have constructed shows that there is an improvement in different simulation systems interoperability.
Rapid performance prediction for library components
Authors: Schupp Sibylle , Zalewski Marcin , Ross Kyle
Published: July 2004

Component-based programming is a methodology for designing software systems as assemblages of components with a low degree of coherence and a high degree of orthogonality. Decoupling and orthogonality, however, require coupling and assembling on the side of the component's client. This paper addresses performance problems that occur in the composition specifically of library components. We discuss the design and implementation of a
composer
, which assembles library components based on a classification of their declarative performance descriptions. Employing an off-the-shelf decision-tree procedure for selecting, and the C++ technique of traits for propagating the desired behavior throughout the whole library, our system allows for rapid performance predictions. It is applied to FFTL, an "STL-like" C++ library for the Fast Fourier Transform.
Analysing UML 2.0 activity diagrams in the software performance engineering process
Authors: Canevet C. , Gilmore S. , Hillston J. , Kloul L. , Stevens P.
Published: July 2004

In this paper we present an original method of analysing the newly-revised UML2.0 activity diagrams. Our analysis method builds on our formal interpretation of these diagrams with respect to the UML2.0 standard. The mapping into another formalism is the first stage of a refinement process which ultimately delivers derived analytical results on the model. This process highlights latent performance problems hidden in the high-level design, allowing software developers to fix these design flaws before they are concretised in implementation code. We exercise our analysis approach on a substantial example of modelling a multi-player distributed role-playing game.
Performance of parallel architectures for CORBA-based systems
Authors: Huo Ming , Majumdar Shikharesh
Published: July 2004

This research is concerned with achieving high performance on middleware-based inter-operable distributed object computing systems. This paper reports a preliminary investigation of the impact of using parallel architectures that use concurrent server invocations to improve performance. One of these architectures is observed to lead to a substantial performance improvement in comparison to the conventional sequential interaction architecture.
Report on the First International Workshop on Comparative Evaluation in Requirements Engineering
Authors: Gervasi Vincenzo , Zowghi Didar , Easterbrook Steve , Sim Susan Elliott
Published: July 2004

Requirements Engineering (RE) research is believed to be mature enough for the community to be able to make comparative evaluations of alternative tools, techniques, approaches and methods. Commonly used exemplars in RE that have emerged over the years all suffer from well-defined and widely accepted evaluation criteria which makes comparison of the effectiveness of different research outcomes impossible. The first International Workshop on Comparative Evaluation on Requirements Engineering was held in conjunction with the 11
th
IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference in Monterey Bay, California. This workshop was conceived to address these issues and facilitate a community initiative in developing a common understanding of evaluation criteria and developing benchmarks for comparative evaluation in RE. Content, of course, is important.
A kind of new ToolBus model research and implementation
Authors: Guo Bing , Shen Yan , Xie Jun , Wang Yong , Xiong Guang-Ze
Published: July 2004

Nowadays, software architecture of CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) environments is evolving from layered structure to bus structure. This bus structure can greatly simplify the interconnection structure among tools and facilitate the construction of distributed CASE environments. In this paper, from the viewpoint that tool integration facilities are separated from tool logic processing function, a pure model of ToolBus first is introduced, then its functional abstraction, internal structure, interface specifications and implementation approaches are explored, last a software prototype
LambdaBus
which verifies the validity to ToolBus model is implemented based on CORBA specifications.
A survey to examine the effect of team communication on job satisfaction in software industry
Authors: Javed Talha , Manzil-e-Maqsood  , Durrani Qaiser S.
Published: July 2004

Effective communication at work places contributes significantly towards the performance of employees. It gives rise to enhanced job satisfaction, a good feeling of personal accomplishment and increased productivity. In this paper we have investigated the factors (related to team communication) that have a significant influence on job satisfaction. For this study, 23 factors that could possibly affect job satisfaction are taken into consideration. These factors were grouped into categories like working environment, duration of service, personal communication terms, performance feedback, horizontal, vertical and formal communication. Our findings, based on the statistical analysis of industry data, indicate that working environment, quality work, performance appraisals and clarity of information provided by project managers to team members are the factors that positively contribute towards job satisfaction.