PEP: An interactive programming system with an Algol-like programming language

PEP (Program Editor and Processor) is an interactive programming system based on an Algol-like language. It is intended to replace BASIC as a system for interactive program development on small computers (LSI-11). The language processed by the system allows declaration of variables, constants and procedures; it has structured statements for conditional and repetitive execution of program parts. We describe design and implementation of the system and give our impressions after 1 year of experience with the system.     

A parallel programming environment supporting multiple data-parallel modules

We describe a system that allows programmers to take advantage of both control and data parallelism through multiple intercommunicating data-parallel modules. This programming environment extends C-type stream I/O to include intermodule communication channels. The programmer writes each module as a separate data-parallel program, then develops a channel linker specification describing how to connect the modules together. A channel linker we have developed loads the separate modules on to the parallel machine and binds the communication channels together as specified. We present performance data that demonstrates a mixed control- and data-parallel solution can yield better performance than a strictly data-parallel solution. The system described currently runs on the Intel iWarp multicomputer.     

Categorical ML — Category-theoretic modular programming

We consider an extension of the functional programming language Standard ML with a modular structure based upon concepts in category theory such as categories, functors, natural transformations and adjunctions. In essence, we are following the categorical imperative of considering arrows as well as objects. This is intended to enforce a certain mathematical rigour on the programmer, so that the only programs that can be expressed are those with a categorical significance. The essentially algebraic nature of category theory means that we may generate equational correctness conditions for the modular structure of programs, thus separating the correctness of individual functions from that of modules. We describe this programming language, give examples of its use, and explain how it is implemented in a type system.     

Programmable applications for the arts: computational tools for hand, eye and mind

Commercial applications for the arts tend to enforce a division between the use of learnable direct manipulation interfaces and the use of powerful, well supported programming environments. In contrast, programmable applications integrate these two software-design paradigms (i.e. direct manipulation and programming languages) and thereby attempt to exploit the strengths of both. A sample graphics application, SchemePaint, is outlined, and some of the issues related to the creation of programmable applications for the arts are discussed.     

VC++与Fortran混合编程方法研究

利用VC＋＋与Fortran联合编程开发航海计算软件具有重要的实用价值。在研究现有的联合编程方法基础上,提出了一种基于外壳同步调用方法和文件交换的方法。研究了这种方法涉及到的几个关键问题,并设计了实现模型,最后给出了一个应用实例。实验结果表明,这种方法满足航海计算领域VC＋＋与Fortran联合开发软件的要求。     

An interactive approach based on a discrete differential evolution algorithm for a class of integer bilevel programming problems

This paper presents an interactive approach based on a discrete differential evolution algorithm to solve a class of integer bilevel programming problems, in which integer decision variables are controlled by an upper-level decision maker and real-value or continuous decision variables are controlled by a lower-level decision maker. Using the Karush--Kuhn–Tucker optimality conditions in the lower-level programming, the original discrete bilevel formulation can be converted into a discrete single-level nonlinear programming problem with the complementarity constraints, and then the smoothing technique is applied to deal with the complementarity constraints. Finally, a discrete single-level nonlinear programming problem is obtained, and solved by an interactive approach. In each iteration, for each given upper-level discrete variable, a system of nonlinear equations including the lower-level variables and Lagrange multipliers is solved first, and then a discrete nonlinear programming problem only with inequality constraints is handled by using a discrete differential evolution algorithm. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Applying fuzzy multi-objective linear programming to project management decisions with the interactive two-phase method

The aim of this paper is to develop an interactive two-phase method that can help the Project Manager (PM) with solving the fuzzy multi-objective decision problems. Therefore, in this paper, we first revisit the related papers and focus on how to develop an interactive two-phase method. Next, we establish to consider the imprecise nature of the data by fulfilling the possibilistic programming model, and we also assume that each objective work has a fuzzy goal. Finally, for reaching our objective, the detailed numerical example is presented to illustrate the feasibility of applying the proposed approach to PM decision problems at the end of this paper. Results show that our model can be applied as an effective tool. Furthermore, we believe that this approach can be applied to solve other multi-objective decision making problems.     

Visual Zero: A persistent and interactive object-oriented programming environment

In this article, an ongoing research project held in the Computer Science department of the University of Vigo is described. Its main objective is to develop an interactive object-oriented environment, serving as a vehicle for learning object-oriented programming. It currently consists of a virtual machine, an assembler, compilers for two high-level programming languages, and an educational visual programming environment. Its main characteristics are (a) the support of prototype-based object orientation, which is a model of object orientation that actually wraps the class-based model; (b) the support for object persistence, which simplifies all input/output issues to the minimum, and (c) the availability of a new visual programming environment is an invaluable help. We the authors think that the combination of all of these possibilities, will lead to an interesting, useful tool that would be recommended for object-oriented teaching. The whole system has been successfully employed in a number of different courses, allowing students to concentrate on objects and their relationships from the very beginning, and thus helping them to achieve a high degree of knowledge about the object-oriented programming paradigm.     

A distributed system for learning programming on-line

Several Web-based on-line judges or on-line programming trainers have been developed in order to allow students to train their programming skills. However, their pedagogical functionalities in the learning of programming have not been clearly defined. EduJudge is a project which aims to integrate the “UVA On-line Judge”, an existing on-line programming trainer with an important number of problems and users, into an effective educational environment consisting of the e-learning platform Moodle and the competitive learning tool QUESTOURnament. The result is the EduJudge system which allows teachers to apply different pedagogical approaches using a proven e-learning platform, makes problems easy to search through an effective search engine, and provides an automated evaluation of the solutions submitted to these problems. The final objective is to provide new learning strategies to motivate students and present programming as an easy and attractive challenge. EduJudge has been tried and tested in three algorithms and programming courses in three different Engineering degrees. The students’ motivation and satisfaction levels were analysed alongside the effects of the EduJudge system on students’ academic outcomes. Results indicate that both students and teachers found that among other multiple benefits the EduJudge system facilitates the learning process. Furthermore, the experiment also showed an improvement in students’ academic outcomes. It must be noted that the students’ level of satisfaction did not depend on their computer skills or their gender.     

An application of coroutines and backtracking in interactive systems

A software structure well-suited for the programming of interactive recognition and translation systems is described. This structure makes use of coroutines and backtracking in a highly coordinated and integrated fashion. A set of coroutine and backtracking primitives that supports this approach is defined. An example of the use of this approach is given.     

PIGS—A system for programming with interactive graphical support

This paper describes an implementation of a system for programming using structured charts with interactive graphical support. It provides a graphical editor for the user to interactively build and edit programs using Nassi-Shneiderman diagrams (NSD)¹ as the structured control constructs of logic flow. It can interpret a program in NSD chart form, and the execution sequence of the NSD is displayed at a graphical terminal. On-line debugging and testing facilities are available which allow the user to examine and modify the program under execution. The system has been designed with the aim of supporting the development, debugging, testing, documentation and maintenance of programs in the same environment.     

Programs as visual,interactive documents

We present a novel approach to combined textual and visual programming by allowing visual, interactive objects to be embedded within textual source code and segments of source code to be further embedded within those objects. We retain the strengths of text‐based source code, while enabling visual programming where it is beneficial. Additionally, embedded objects and code provide a simple object‐oriented approach to adding a visual form of LISP‐style macros to a language. The ability to freely combine source code and visual, interactive objects with one another allows for the construction of interactive programming tools and experimentation with novel programming language extensions. Our visual programming system is supported by a type coercion‐based presentation protocol that displays normal Java and Python objects in a visual, interactive form. We have implemented our system within a prototype interactive programming environment called ‘The Larch Environment’. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ability-training-oriented automated assessment in introductory programming course

Learning to program is a difficult process for novice programmers. AutoLEP, an automated learning and assessment system, was developed by us, to aid novice programmers to obtain programming skills. AutoLEP is ability-training-oriented. It adopts a novel assessment mechanism, which combines static analysis with dynamic testing to analyze student programs. It not only helps students to sufficiently test the programs, but also evaluates whether the programs meet the specification or not. AutoLEP encourages students to find and work through bugs, by providing automatic syntactic and structural checking, and immediate detailed feedback. This can improve students’ learning experience in programming and reduce the workload of the teaching staff. AutoLEP has been used in the C programming course at Harbin Institute of Technology and many other universities since 2004. The feedback on AutoLEP and its incorporation into the introductory programming course has been positive, both by students and teaching staff.     

A pilot study of cooperative programming learning behavior and its relationship with students' learning performance

In this study we proposed a web-based programming assisted system for cooperation (WPASC) and we also designed one learning activity for facilitating students' cooperative programming learning. The aim of this study was to investigate cooperative programming learning behavior of students and its relationship with learning performance. Students' opinions and perceptions toward learning activity and the WPASC were also investigated. The results of this study revealed that most of students perceived that learning activity and the WPASC were useful for cooperative programming learning. Students' learning behavior during cooperative programming learning activity was classified into six different categories and we found that learning behavior has relationship with learning performance. Students from completely independent, self-improving using assistance, confident after enlightenment and imitating categories performed well due to their effective and motivated learning behavior. However, students from performing poorly without assistance and plagiarizing categories performed the worse; the former could not get assistance at all and the later had no learning motivation. The results also showed that students' learning behavior may have increasing, decreasing and no transition during problems solving. Therefore, performing poorly without assistance and plagiarizing learning behavior and decreasing transition or no transition in learning behavior should be identified right after completing a programming problem. Then the instructor should intervene into learning behavior in order to change it into more effective for learning. Besides, more incentives need to be given for increasing students' learning motivation and posting solutions and feedback by students at the early stage of a problem solving period.     

Exploiting Persistence in Build Management

A challenging issue in the construction and maintenance of large application systems is how to determine which components need to be rebuilt after change, when and in which order. Rebuilding is typically recompilation and linking, but may also include update of derivable components such as cross-reference databases and re-creation of library indexes. Type definitions or schema, and data values in a file store, database or persistent store may also need to be rebuilt. The main purpose of this paper is to describe how persistent language technology can be exploited to enhance build management. In particular, the paper describes a method for transactional, incremental linking and the implementation of its support. To help implement this method, and to make it safer and more efficient to carry out rebuild activities in general, we have defined a set of automatically checkable constraints on the software. The build management tool we have implemented, the Builder, derives rebuild dependencies automatically and offers partitioning of dependency graphs—a means to defer or avoid unnecessary rebuilding. The Builder is implemented in a persistent programming language and provides build management for applications written in the language. It exploits features such as strong typing, runtime linguistic reflection, and referential integrity provided by the language processing technology. The Builder operates over both programs and (complex) data, which is in contrast to conventional language-centred tools. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

MUPPET: A programming environment for message-based multiprocessors

MUPPET is a problem-solving environment for scientific computing with message-based multiprocessors. It consists of four part—concurrent languages, programming environments, application environments and man-machine interfaces. The programming paradigm of MUPPET is based on parallel abstract machines and transformations between them. This paradigm allows the development of programs which are portable among multiprocessors with different interconnection topologies.

In this paper we discuss the MUPPET programming paradigm. We give an introduction to the language CONCURRENT MODULA-2 and the graphic specification system GONZO. The graphic specification system tries to introduce graphics as a tool for programming. It is also the basis for programming generation and transformation.     

ParaGraph: Graph editor support for parallel programming environments

We report here on a graph editor, ParaGraph, that supports massively parallel programming. It provides a flexible mechanism for the concise specification of families of annotated graphs, addressing the problems of user annotation and scale independent graph manipulation. ParaGraph currently serves as the basis for tools supporting communication abstractions in program specification and debugging. Its foundation in an extended form of aggregate rewriting graph grammars makes its adaptation to other parallel programming environments straightforward.The Parallel Programming Environments Project at the University of Massachusetts is supported by the Office of Naval Research under Contract N000014-84-K-0647 and by the National Science Foundation under Grants DCR-8500332 and CCR-8712410.     

Evaluation of an interactive educational system in urban knowledge acquisition and representation based on students' profiles

The aim of this article is to study how students currently understand the conception of space through different media and how that understanding helps them to intervene in the space. Firstly, the process of teaching and learning as well as innovative supporting technologies are analysed, revealing the characteristics of the contemporary student profile and better ways of teaching according to it. Secondly, we describe the evaluation of an experiment with a virtual reality (VR) system for urban project design with students of architecture from two universities. The premise is that the technology used in VR is familiar to the current profile of students. This paper aims to study the advantages and disadvantages of this trend and to find a balance. To do so, we use a quantitative method to evaluate students' profiles and their level of satisfaction with the system. The results were obtained by a questionnaire and a survey, which show the role and use of technologies in the students' environment and the degree of satisfaction when using it in the educational processes. In line with our assumptions, the value of satisfaction in the use of an advanced visualization technology in the classroom reveals a high level of motivation, in general, with differentiation between students in their first and last phases of studies.