EOL programming examples: a primer,

"Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant no. GP-4636."

LINGOL, a readable formalism for programming language semantics /

"UILU-ENG 77 1766."

A translation of relational database query languages into SIBYL /

Bibliography: p. [77]-78.

Analyzing smooth flowcharts : teaching structured programming in a computer-based education environment /

Vita.

Specifications and test methods for numeric accuracy in programming language standards /

Item 247.

The design of an economically viable large-scale computer based education system /

"February, 1969"

The real-time refinement calculus: A foundation for machine-independent real-time programming

The real-time refinement calculus is an extension of the standard refinement calculus in which programs are developed from a precondition plus post-condition style of specification. In addition to adapting standard refinement rules to be valid in the real-time context, specific rules are required for the timing constructs such as delays and deadlines. Because many real-time programs may be nonterminating, a further extension is to allow nonterminating repetitions. A real-time specification constrains not only what values should be output, but when they should be output. Hence for a program to implement such a specification, it must guarantee to output values by the specified times. With standard programming languages such guarantees cannot be made without taking into account the timing characteristics of the implementation of the program on a particular machine. To avoid having to consider such details during the refinement process, we have extended our real-time programming language with a deadline command. The deadline command takes no time to execute and always guarantees to meet the specified time; if the deadline has already passed the deadline command is infeasible (miraculous in Dijkstra's terminology). When such a realtime program is compiled for a particular machine, one needs to ensure that all execution paths leading to a deadline are guaranteed to reach it by the specified time. We consider this checking as part of an extended compilation phase. The addition of the deadline command restores for the real-time language the advantage of machine independence enjoyed by non-real-time programming languages.

The Technology of Programming for a Cluster Computer by the Remote Terminal with OS Windows

The problem of preparation of a program to perform it on multiprocessor system of a cluster type is considered. When developing programs for a cluster computer the technology based on use of the remote terminal is applied. The situation when such remote terminal is the computer with operational system Windows is considered. The set of the tool means, allowing carrying out of editing program texts, compiling and starting programs on a cluster computer, is suggested. Advantage of an offered way of preparation of programs to execution is that it allows as much as possible to use practical experience of programmers used to working in OS Windows environment.

An innovative approach to teaching structural induction for computer science

Proofs by induction are central to many computer science areas such as data structures, theory of computation, programming languages, program efficiency-time complexity, and program correctness. Proofs by induction can also improve students’ understanding and performance of computer science concepts such as programming languages, algorithm design, and recursion, as well as serve as a medium for teaching them. Even though students are exposed to proofs by induction in many courses of their curricula, they still have difficulties understanding and performing them. This impacts the whole course of their studies, since proofs by induction are omnipresent in computer science. Specifically, students do not gain conceptual understanding of induction early in the curriculum and as a result, they have difficulties applying it to more advanced areas later on in their studies. The goal of my dissertation is twofold: (1) identifying sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction, and (2) developing a new approach to teaching proofs by induction by way of an interactive and multimodal electronic book (e-book). For the first goal, I undertook a study to identify possible sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction. Its results suggest that there is a close correlation between students’ understanding of inductive definitions and their understanding and performance of proofs by induction. For designing and developing my e-book, I took into consideration the results of my study, as well as the drawbacks of the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science. I designed my e-book to be used as a standalone and complete educational environment. I also conducted a study on the effectiveness of my e-book in the classroom. The results of my study suggest that, unlike the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science, my e-book helped students overcome many of their difficulties and gain conceptual understanding of proofs induction.

An Innovative Approach to Teaching Structural Induction for Computer Science

Proofs by induction are central to many computer science areas such as data structures, theory of computation, programming languages, program efficiency-time complexity, and program correctness. Proofs by induction can also improve students’ understanding of and performance with computer science concepts such as programming languages, algorithm design, and recursion, as well as serve as a medium for teaching them. Even though students are exposed to proofs by induction in many courses of their curricula, they still have difficulties understanding and performing them. This impacts the whole course of their studies, since proofs by induction are omnipresent in computer science. Specifically, students do not gain conceptual understanding of induction early in the curriculum and as a result, they have difficulties applying it to more advanced areas later on in their studies. The goal of my dissertation is twofold: 1. identifying sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction, and 2. developing a new approach to teaching proofs by induction by way of an interactive and multimodal electronic book (e-book). For the first goal, I undertook a study to identify possible sources of computer science students’ difficulties with proofs by induction. Its results suggest that there is a close correlation between students’ understanding of inductive definitions and their understanding and performance of proofs by induction. For designing and developing my e-book, I took into consideration the results of my study, as well as the drawbacks of the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science. I designed my e-book to be used as a standalone and complete educational environment. I also conducted a study on the effectiveness of my e-book in the classroom. The results of my study suggest that, unlike the current methodologies of teaching proofs by induction for computer science, my e-book helped students overcome many of their difficulties and gain conceptual understanding of proofs induction.

Visual programming in a heterogeneous multi-core environment

É do conhecimento geral de que, hoje em dia, a tecnologia evolui rapidamente. São criadas novas arquitecturas para resolver determinadas limitações ou problemas. Por vezes, essa evolução é pacífica e não requer necessidade de adaptação e, por outras, essa evolução pode Implicar mudanças. As linguagens de programação são, desde sempre, o principal elo de comunicação entre o programador e o computador. Novas linguagens continuam a aparecer e outras estão sempre em desenvolvimento para se adaptarem a novos conceitos e paradigmas. Isto requer um esforço extra para o programador, que tem de estar sempre atento a estas mudanças. A Programação Visual pode ser uma solução para este problema. Exprimir funções como módulos que recebem determinado Input e retomam determinado output poderá ajudar os programadores espalhados pelo mundo, através da possibilidade de lhes dar uma margem para se abstraírem de pormenores de baixo nível relacionados com uma arquitectura específica. Esta tese não só mostra como combinar as capacidades do CeII/B.E. (que tem uma arquitectura multi­processador heterogénea) com o OpenDX (que tem um ambiente de programação visual), como também demonstra que tal pode ser feito sem grande perda de performance. ABSTRACT; lt is known that nowadays technology develops really fast. New architectures are created ln order to provide new solutions for different technology limitations and problems. Sometimes, this evolution is pacific and there is no need to adapt to new technologies, but things also may require a change every once ln a while. Programming languages have always been the communication bridge between the programmer and the computer. New ones keep coming and other ones keep improving ln order to adapt to new concepts and paradigms. This requires an extra-effort for the programmer, who always needs to be aware of these changes. Visual Programming may be a solution to this problem. Expressing functions as module boxes which receive determined Input and return determined output may help programmers across the world by giving them the possibility to abstract from specific low-level hardware issues. This thesis not only shows how the CeII/B.E. (which has a heterogeneous multi-core architecture) capabilities can be combined with OpenDX (which has a visual programming environment), but also demonstrates that lt can be done without losing much performance.

Easy PRAM-based High-performance Parallel Programming with ICE

A poster of this paper will be presented at the 25th International Conference on Parallel Architecture and Compilation Technology (PACT ’16), September 11-15, 2016, Haifa, Israel.

Experiences with an Object-Oriented, Multi-Stage Language

Metaphor is a multi-stage programming language extension to an imperative, object-oriented language in the style of C# or Java. This paper discusses some issues we faced when applying multi-stage language design concepts to an imperative base language and run-time environment. The issues range from dealing with pervasive references and open code to garbage collection and implementing cross-stage persistence.