The class homepage is the starting point for the students' exploration of the topic of programming languages. It contains links to information about class policies, the syllabus, assignments, lecture notes, personal homepages for each of the students enrolled in the class, information about the available facilities, and other items of interest.
The ``What's New?'' page keeps the students updated about changes and updates made to the WWW pages. An email to mosaic gateway is used to make posting changes convenient.
Concepts of Programming Languages is required for some students who are not Computer Science majors as well as all Computer Science majors. To assist those who are not familiar with the computers in the lab, information about specific equipment in the lab and some introductory information on equipment use is provided.
The reference to information about equipment in the lab is a link to the facilities page maintained by the Computer Science Department. This page explains what department equipment is in each lab and what class or classes use the lab. To help students get started using the equipment provided for the class, there is a page explaining basic information about editors,and so on.
From the homepage, a student can find a link to the policies page which contains course objectives, goals, prerequisites, homework assignments, and information about the professor and teaching assistants. The class news group is also accessible from the policies page. The policies page is very similar to what a professor may give as a printed handout to the students during the first class period.
The online syllabus, like a paper syllabus, provides the student with an outline of the class. Included on the syllabus are topics that will be discussed in class, reading assignments, homework assignment due dates, and test schedules. Since the document is in HTML, links to each assignment and the lecture notes for each day allow the student to see exactly what he or she needs in preparation for each class period.
The lecture notes
provide the students with a preview of what will be discussed in
class. Of course, these notes are intended to be supplemental to the
text. Originally, the lecture notes were written in raw HTML. While
this is adequate, it is difficult to use the notes for publication or
to print them out in other forms. Lecture notes written using LaTeX
can be converted to HTML using the latex2html
Each assignment has a page with instructions needed by the student to accomplish the assignment. Since few of the students are familiar with the Web, the first assignment helps them create their own personal homepage. Each student's page includes information about themselves, their picture, and their own personal hotlist of links. A sample page is provided for editing to include their own information. Or they can create their own homepage from scratch. A list of class members with links to homepages is maintained for each section aiding the students in becoming acquainted with other students in their class. Students use this information for creating study groups and locating co-workers for the group project.
Hints for the homework are only available on-line. Some are linked to the assignment, others are posted to the class newsgroup from time to time. When a student finishes an assignment, he or she submits homework via e-mail, thus allowing all grading to be done electronically. When the teaching assistant receives the homework, he or she grades it, making comments in the body of the message and returns the e-mail to the student.
In order to encourage students to explore the subject of programming languages, numerous references to related Web sites and news groups are provided. These starting points make it easier and more interesting for students to begin researching programming languages. Students will then often spend time surfing the Web by following links from those sites to others with additional information related to Programming Languages.
All of the pages for class are indexed and searchable. Making it easy for a student to find specific information that interests them.