waashk/acm huggingface dataset:
organizing a college microcomputer show  going to a microcomputer fair or show is fun, exhilarating, and exhausting. organizing a microcomputer fair or show is also fun, exhilarating, and exhausting! despite the work that goes into a show, it is worthwhile if things go well. many arrangements for a microcomputer show are similar to the arrangements for any kind of show, fair, or exhibit. but there are some differences as well. for example, the organizers of a college microcomputer show may be less practiced in anticipating all the decisions that must be made. this is the report of one experience at organizing a microcomputer show and a descriptive checklist of things to consider.  james w. cerny
a foundation course in computer science  the discipline of computer science has matured to the extent that now it has become necessary to define a foundation course primarily designed for majors in computer science. such a course will include an introduction to the basic areas to which these students are later on exposed at their junior and senior years. in particular, the syllabus may consist of five core areas: problem solving including algorithm design, development and testing; data structures including representation and implementation of arrays, stacks, queues, trees, lists and files; computer systems including traditional hardware and software concepts; program design and development including modern programming methodology, debugging and documentation; and finally the syntax and semantics of one or two programming languages. the duration of the course will be one full academic year for a total of 12 quarter or 8 semester credits of work. the course will assume an entry level equivalent to college algebra, computer literacy and collegiate maturity measured by completion of a total of about 32 quarter or an equivalent amount of semester credits of college level work.  ali behforooz
assessing the ripple effect of cs1 language choice  java has reinvigorated the debate on the `best' language to use for cs1. much of the controversy centers on the goals of cs1, specific language constructs that either hinder or support the first formal introduction to programming, and, even, `real-world' relevance. missing from typical discussions is the effect of the language choice in cs1 on cs2 and subsequent courses in the cs curriculum. in all such dialogues, it is important to note the characteristics of the department at hand. while many programs can afford to choose a language (such as scheme) purely for pedagogical reasons, others (if not most), due to pressure from students, industry, advisory boards, select a language with some market appeal. small departments that serve students who expect an immediate transition to a professional job typically choose a traditional procedural language like c, pascal, modula-2, or a popular oo language like c++, java, ada95, or visual basic. hence, we focus here on the choice of one of these languages, and the resulting effects on students' progression in the cs curriculum.
a computer literacy mini-course  the computer consciousness minicourse being taught at notre dame's computing center began as a response to a growing need noticed by several staff members. computers today affect everybody's life, and people want to know about them. many courses in computer science and in programming are offered at notre dame, both some for credit, and the credit-free mini courses sponsored by the computing center. these courses contribute to computer literacy on campus, but they cannot meet the needs of everyone.  there exists a group of people who don't necessarily want to learn programming or even to learn how to use computers. they simply want to know what they are all about. this group may include students in non-technical disciplines who cannot schedule a programming class into their packed curricula. possibly among these people are faculty or staff members who completed their educations before computers were common. also included are secretaries who are being asked to give up their typewriters in favor of computers dedicated to word processing. they want to understand the machines. teenagers who know they will have a head start in college if they understand computing are part of this group. our computer consciousness minicourse is for these people.  victoria green
focus of the iccp  the iccp is sharpening its focus on the goal of professionalism through certification. in may, the directors set several activities in motion that are based upon agreement of principle. each activity encourages the cooperation of all the professional associations and moves the information systems industry toward professionalism.  current board members will be joined by members elected by and from current certificate holders. this action is based on the principle that there is now an adequate number of certificate holders to accept the responsibility to at least share in their professional certification program.  roland d. spaniol
toward an ideal competency-based computer science teacher certification program: the delphi approach  the downward migration of computer science courses from university to secondary and even junior high school level is accelerated by the increasing computer usage in schools and the increasing demands of both parents and students for quality computer education. teacher training is a major vehicle to the success of this migration. however, at this time, there is no consensus concerning how the secondary school computer science teacher should be certified and what should be included in the study of a computer science teacher certification program. this paper collects data from various computer expert groups through the use of delphi technique to provide valuable guidelines for establishing a computer science teacher certification program as well as a model curriculum based on the minimum competency required of a successful secondary school computer science teacher.  j. wey chen
a semester-long project in cs 2 two years ago, like many others, our computer science program made the switch from pascal to c++. as we had in the past, we continued the practice of teaching some principles of software engineering in the second course. because students were working primarily on small projects, they were not seeing the need for the design techniques i was presenting. i decided to devise a semester-long project through which i could illustrate not only the use of standard data structures but also the need for employing principles of software engineering. christine shannon
math proficiency: a key to success for computer science students  a computer science aptitude predictor was administered to students enrolled in a first technical course in computer science to determine potential for success. the study revealed significant differences in the scoring between students who withdrew from the course and those students who did not. the causes for the differences all related to the students' mathematical background: high school performance, previous computer science education, and the number of college mathematics courses taken.  john konvalina stanley a. wileman larry j. stephens
the feasibility of personal computers as an only computer resource for a computer science program  this paper reports on the experiences at union university in using a mini- computer based time-sharing facility versus a loosely-coupled micro-computer based facility. these two facilities are the only computer resources used by two disjoint academic populations. comparisons are drawn on acquisition costs, staffing, and operating costs. the micro- computer system is an inexpensive, viable alternative.  geof goldbogen g. h. williams
continuing education services of the ieee computer society  recognizing the need of its members to keep themselves up-to-date in the rapidly advancing field of computer science and engineering, the computer society has for years devoted substantial effort in providing continuing education service. one can identify four major components in this service. they are: 1. the chapter tutorial program, 2. the professional development seminars, 3. the distinguish visitor's program and 4. the tutorial publications. each program provides a distinct type of service; together they meet the demand of the membership in large measure.  willis k. king
information systems: a disciplined approach to design  this paper discusses an approach to information system design. it discusses specific factors which should be considered and the steps which should be followed during the phases dealing with study of the situation and analysis of requirements, and external design. for illustration of this disciplined approach, the paper provides examples of organizations such as a medical/dental office, a pharmacy, a retail store, and a repair shop. details of typical requirements are then derived for these example organizations, followed by a proposal for an external design configuration.  s. imtiaz ahmad
a report on industry-university roundtable discussions on recruitment and retention of high-tech professionals  the purpose of this paper is to synthesize the proceedings of the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 technology and commerce roundtables on the topic of the "recruitment and retention of high-tech professionals" and to raise issues and challenges which have been generated from these discussions. the paper will address the responses of corporate partners, students, and the university faculty with respect to the recruitment and retention of it professionals, skill and knowledge requirements for it personnel, the factors important to mis graduates in selecting career opportunities, the impact of commercial off- the- shelf software on it skill requirements, and it compensation strategies.  mary sumner
an experience is worth 1k words  an introductory computer science course is presented which uses new techniques appropriate for a liberal arts college. students learn standard topics by means of a series of guided labs in which they are active participants. the students learn to question, analyse, and construct examples, thereby acquiring the means for further inquiry and understanding. irrelevant stumbling blocks are minimized in the hope that the positive learning process will be something they continue on their own.  marjory baruch
a course in software reuse with ada 95 courses in software reuse based on ada have been taught for several years in department of computer science at north carolina a&amp;t; state university [2][5][6]. the course materials have been updated and adopted for ada 95 under a curriculum development grant from the defense information system agency. the new course forms a semester-long undergraduate course titled "software reuse with ada 95".in this course software reuse levels, general criteria, and software development with reuse are overviewed. software development for reuse and object-oriented design techniques that support reuse are taught. ada 95's object-oriented features and how to integrate these features to develop reusable artifacts are examined. reuse library and management techniques are discussed. students are trained as designers, implementers and clients. they practice the object oriented software development process by implementing a team project. huiming yu
changing user populations  computing services in the form of assistance to users was first established in colleges and universities to assist professors and graduate students in writing computer programs usually in fortran and usually to solve scientific problems. these services evolved to include non-programmers---those who were using a higher level, non-procedural language usually to solve engineering problems and social science statistical problems. as software has improved to serve a wider audience of computer users, the typical user services have expanded.  today user services addresses the needs of many people using computers to manipulate words. services have changed to include micro or personal computers as well as mainframes. many customers are not doing research but are merely trying to solve problems of office or personal drudgery. administrators who are querying and preparing reports are now among our customers. many of our customers of ten and twenty years ago are now very self-sufficient users who have incorporated computing into the curriculum and have produced computer- savvy younger faculty who are performing very sophisticated research using computers extensively themselves in the laboratory for data acquisition. these faculty are now gathering data faster than the central mainframe can process and reduce that data. thus the character of research has changed in one generation.  these changes in user populations have enormous impact for people working in computing centers providing user services. the technical level of our staff must be greater than it was ten years ago. the sophisticated researcher needs much more help than merely helping him to debug a computational fortan program. his problems involve data acquisition in real- time, storing and sending that data, and processing it in larger and larger arrays. all users from the researcher to the novice with a simple personal computer have data communication needs and problems which are often not trivial to resolve. administrators have problems which are often very complex and require a combination of knowledge of data base, communications, query languages, report writers, and programming not usually found in the traditional user services staffs. graphical output is becoming a common requirement and as experience of our users increases, the simple is not sufficient. word applications are becoming more common than numerical applications requiring a different kind of staff expertise. as the computer becomes a common tool for all students, faculty, and administrators, the skills and tasks required for user services are changing. unless we are ready to provide the requisite services, our value to our institutions will diminish and pass away.  barbara b. wolfe
a discussion of cybersickness in virtual environments an important and troublesome problem with current virtual environment (ve) technology is the tendency for some users to exhibit symptoms that parallel symptoms of classical motion sickness both during and after the ve experience. this type of sickness, cybersickness, is distinct from motion sickness in that the user is often stationary but has a compelling sense of self motion through moving visual imagery. unfortunately, there are many factors that can cause cybersickness and there is no foolproof method for eliminating the problem. in this paper, i discuss a number of the primary factors that contribute to the cause of cybersickness, describe three conflicting cybersickness theories that have been postulated, and discuss some possible methods for reducing cybersickness in ves. joseph j. laviola
professional literacy: labs for advanced programming courses  our contention is that there now exists a considerable body of lab exercises that may be used in conjunction with introductory courses. there are fewer models available for instructors of more advanced programming courses, especially those courses which attempt to introduce students to current practices in software engineering. in this paper, we report on our experiences in building a second-year programming course that includes a significant lab and project component. these labs and projects are the vehicle we use to introduce students to the world of professional practice in software development.  henry a. etlinger michael j. lutz
the em88110: emulating a superscalar processor assembly programming is a very important topic to teach computer architecture. current computers include special techniques to improve performance such as pipeline and multiple instruction issue per cycle. but these kinds of computers are difficult to use in laboratory works because of the great amount of details of the target computer architecture that are not relevant to beginners. hence, we decided to build a configurable emulator of a superscalar processor to create a wide set of laboratory works, from the simplest one that uses the computer as a serial processor to the most complex that uses the full set of performance improvements of a superscalar computer. most of the computer parameters can be established by the student or the teacher providing a virtual machine that is easier to use. students can do their laboratory work without taking into account the additional problems generated by a real computer. jose m. perez villadeamigo santiago rodríguez de la fuente rafael mendez cavanillas m. isabel garcía clemente
accreditation: does it enhance quality?  accreditation, considered to be the one formal mechanism for assessing quality in the postsecondary environment, focuses on determining and encouraging acceptable levels of educational quality. in particular, specialized program accreditation is purported to enhance program quality.  this exploratory study used a nationwide mail questionnaire to a stratified random sampling of 100 department heads of the units administering baccalaureate computer science programs. the purpose was to gain an understanding of how computer science programs and departments were related to selected indicators of faculty and program quality.  several differences and some similarities exist between the accredited and non-accredited groups. the median of the data for each indicator suggested a quality breakpoint to be used in defining two indices. it was found that for each of the two indices, the accredited group outperformed the non-accredited group by thirty percent. the implication is that computer science programs that follow accreditation guidelines have the potential for increasing their quality indicators.  evelyn p. rozanski
is your degree quality endorsed? defining what we mean by a quality degree is a difficult enough undertaking. having to demonstrate that a degree program is adhering to this definition is at least as challenging. academics already "know" that they are doing a good job with the teaching and learning aspects of their courses and so any suggestion that the processes involved need monitoring and auditing commonly meet with a combination of disdain, calls of "time-wasting" and "meddling" and general derision. at the same time, there is increasing pressure on universities around the world to not only be accountable for the quality of their products but to also demonstrate that processes that reflect the efforts to achieve quality be visible and in place.in this paper we describe a new web-based database system which has been developed to monitor and track aspects of the quality of our degree offerings. particular attention has been paid to ensuring that the important facets which define or demonstrate quality are both highlighted and managed easily. isaac balbin
commitment development in software process improvement: critical misconceptions  _it has been well established in the software process improvement (spi) literature and practice that without commitment from all organizational levels to spi the initiative will most likely fail or the results are not far reaching. commitment construct is explored and three forms of commitment are introduced: affective, continuance and normative commitment. analysis shows that current models of commitment development lack scientific validity and are based on four misconceptions: (1) the assumption of linearity of the human cognitive processes (i.e., commitment in this case), (2) the controllability of this process, (3) the notion of singular commitment construct, and (4) the sole utility perspective on the commitment phenomenon. implications of these findings for spi research and practice are discussed._  pekka abrahamsson
helping computer scientists in romania  as a professor in the computer science department of the polytechnical institute of bucharest, romania, i would like to bring to your attention the effort of a group of professionals, researchers, students and professors around the world. this effort, called "free unix for romania", has been initiated and coordinated by marius hancu, an advisor at the parallel architectures group, center de recherche informatique de montreal, montreal, canada.  irina athanasiu
computer science education in a saudi arabian university: a comparative study of its b.sc. program the computer science curriculum at a university in the kingdom of saudi arabia is described and then compared to with the csac/abet accreditation criteria. the comparison is needed to determine the relevance of the curriculum in view of the dynamism and perturbations arising from the reality of the real world and csac/abet criteria. the curriculum emphasizes breadth and depth in the main areas of computer science education and makes systems and systems development as its main subject area of expertise. the policy to adopt breadth and depth was based on the fact that saudi arabia is a young and rapidly developing country and computer science education in the country is at its infancy. the pre-college curriculum in the kingdom is lacking in computer science. in addition, computer science is a rapidly developing field. the graduates from this program were expected to be pioneering professionals in the emerging market of computer employment in the kingdom. the curriculum attempts to serve as a catalyst, providing a platform for discussion, which hopefully will result into a feedback to us. we also hope that the curriculum will serve as a guidance to third world countries which are in the same circumstances with limited capabilities and resources who may want to address the critical issues involved in computer science education. abdulmalik s. al-salman jacob adeniyi
facilitating localized exploitation and enterprise-wide integration in the use of it infrastructures: the role of pc/lan infrastructure standards two often- contradictory dilemmas confront firms in their efforts at promoting it-based innovation: facilitate localized exploitation of the it infrastructure within individual business units, but also ensure enterprise-wide integration of it innovation initiatives to facilitate business applications that exploit inter- unit synergies. therefore, developing an it infrastructure that is conducive to both localized exploitation and enterprise-wide integration is important. in this context, it infrastructure standards are an important element of the it infrastructures that shape managers' perceptions about the responsiveness of their infrastructures to their firms' it innovation needs.this study examines the role of pc/lan infrastructure standards in facilitating attention to localized exploitation and enterprise-wide integration. it identifies three attributes of pc/lan infrastructure standards: comprehensiveness, flexibility, and level of enforcement. through rich case studies in four bureaucratic organizations, the study develops insights about how pc/lan infrastructure standards influence perceptions about the responsiveness of the pc/lan infrastructures for localized exploitation and enterprise-wide integration. the emergent findings point to the influence not only of the standards, but also of the organizational context within which these standards are evolved, implemented, and used. the study offers valuable insights for both is practitioners and researchers about the use of pc/lan infrastructure standards in organizations. timothy r. kayworth v. sambamurthy