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Web-based laboratories in the introductory curriculum enhance formal methods

Published:01 March 1996Publication History
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Abstract

In order to be effective, the content of the introductory curriculum must strike a proper balance between the highly motivating (i.e. "fun") aspects of programming and the development of sound scientific background and analytical thinking. As part of an NSF-funded Education Infrastructure project at Oberlin College, we have developed a curriculum that maintains a high level of scientific rigor, while making use of the new technology of HTML and the World Wide Web to instruct and motivate. We provide our students with an integrated experience which includes web-based guided-study laboratory materials, an interactive programming environment and a syllabus which emphasizes the interplay between abstract and formal concepts on the one hand, and concrete implementations and experimental investigations on the other. Scheme is used as the primary programming environment, to illustrate the salient features of the imperative and the object-oriented paradigms, along with the functional paradigm with which it is usually associated. We believe that our approach: 1) revitalizes the material for students who expect a more modern presentation; 2) provides a balanced view of competing perspectives on programming style and methodology; and 3) provides a well-balanced mixture of formal analysis and experimental measurement.In order to produce laboratory materials without the overhead entailed by creating them directly in HTML, we have developed a tool capable of abstracting the functionality and style of HTML documents; thus we can engage both faculty and student authors in the development of laboratories with a uniform style. The very tools used to develop the online materials are themselves an excellent illustration of the empowerment which results from a thorough understanding of the principles of abstraction.

References

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      • Published in

        cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin
        ACM SIGCSE Bulletin  Volume 28, Issue 1
        March 1996
        379 pages
        ISSN:0097-8418
        DOI:10.1145/236462
        Issue’s Table of Contents
        • cover image ACM Conferences
          SIGCSE '96: Proceedings of the twenty-seventh SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
          March 1996
          447 pages
          ISBN:089791757X
          DOI:10.1145/236452

        Copyright © 1996 ACM

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        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

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        • Published: 1 March 1996

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