Among Computer Science educators, hardly any topic inspires more heated debate than the choice of programming language in the introductory sequence. In the late 80s, the uniformly accepted choice was Pascal, but since then, a host of alternatives have come into use. C++ seems to have emerged as the winner, while Pascal, C, Ada, Scheme, and Modula-3 split most of the remaining market.
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While we are enormously pleased with Python as a programming language for introductory classes, we did note a few issues which were awkward or confusing to Intro students. We want to make it clear in discussing these issues that we are only speaking from the point of view of novice programmers. Experienced programmers might well have very different views.
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This book is concerned with concepts in programming languages, issues in their implementation, and how language design affects program development. It is aimed at upper-level undergraduate students and beginning graduate students with some experience in procedural and OO programming. Functional programming experience is claimed to be helpful but non-essential. As a teaching text, it competes with a similarly-named book by Sebesta, a book by (Wilson and) Clark, and others.
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The Microsoft .NET software platform integrates various aspects of software development. In .NET applications can be written in a variety of programming languages and can be either stand-alone or web-based. A lab module for CS 453 Electronic Commerce Technologies was developed that instructs students on how to develop complex e-commerce websites using the programming language C# within the Microsoft .NET framework. This project and thesis provided insight into the power of C# and the .NET framework. Student evaluations were constructive and positive overall. There were many good suggestions for expansion of the C# lab module.
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Writing documents in Microsoft Word™ is convenient and produces good looking results, but posting these documents to web sites presents a problem. Students who do not have a copy of Word installed can not view the documents. When a person without Word left-clicks on the link to the word document, they will be prompted to download the doc as a file. If they figure out how to download it and then try to open it, they will be presented with several unfriendly looking windows asking them how to open the file. This is more than enough to scare off the average student.
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The digital age has vastly expanded people’s access to all sorts of information and resources, including educational materials. The Internet has also fostered a new culture of sharing, one in which content is freely contributed and distributed with few restrictions. Indeed, the latest evolution of the Internet, Web 2.0, is creating a new kind of participatory medium that is ideal for encouraging multiple types of learning.
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The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has created opportunities for the visualization of much information on the web. It is, therefore, one of the empowering sources for learning, or so-called e-learning 2.0 (Downes, 2005). Educators are starting to explore the potential of blogs, media-sharing services and other social software - which, although not designed specifically for e-learning, can be used to empower students and create exciting new learning opportunities. During the past few years, Web technology has been rapidly developed in order to increase its functionalities and design; however, this might indirectly increase more barriers to another group of users. To put it differently, those for whom the Web is inaccessible for whatever reason will become increasingly excluded from mainstream life if it is not made accessible to them. The way this information is presented may mean that it is difficult, or impossible, for people with various forms of disability to access it. A visual on a screen is of no use to someone who is blind. Nonetheless, there are many solutions for this problem today and hopefully even more in the near future.
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The digital age has vastly expanded people’s access to all sorts of information and resources, including educational materials. The Internet has also fostered a new culture of sharing, one in which content is freely contributed and distributed with few restrictions. Indeed, the latest evolution of the Internet, Web 2.0, is creating a new kind of participatory medium that is ideal for encouraging multiple types of learning. Web 2.0 has blurred the line between producers and consumers of content and has shifted attention from access to information toward access to other people. New kinds of online resources — social-networking sites, blogs, wikis, and virtual communities — have allowed people with common interests to meet, share ideas, and collaborate in innovative ways.
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