From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards [email protected]...

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From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards [email protected] Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science http://web-cat.org/ Supported in part by NSF DUE-0836940

Transcript of From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards [email protected]...

Page 1: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

From theTrenches:What It’s Liketo Try Out aNew AV in Class

Stephen [email protected]

Virginia TechDepartment of Computer Science

http://web-cat.org/

Supported in part by NSF DUE-0836940

Page 2: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

I will try to provide a beginner’s perspective on the process

Page 3: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

The most important lessons … Do not expect it to be perfect

Be patient!

Be persistent!

Be flexible!

Page 4: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Here are three examples …

All from a CS2-level data structures class

BinaryTreesome JHAVEPOP Trakla2: Binary Search Tree Search

Page 5: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

BinaryTreesome: insert

Page 6: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

BinaryTreesome: search

Page 7: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Lessons learned

Works! Nice for interactive demo/exploration

No setup required for students Occasional issues with Java version Sometimes inconsistent across

browsers No gradable exercise support

Page 8: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

JHAVEPOP: linked list mechanics

Page 9: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

???

Page 10: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Enter your answer …

Page 11: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Visualize your answer in action …

Page 12: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

See the final result …

Page 13: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Adjusting your answer is harder …

Page 14: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Lessons learned

Works! Full set of (simple) exercises

Students may need more prep/instruction beyond built-in writeups/help

Not all user interfaces are intuitively obvious

Sometimes inconsistent across browsers No gradable exercise support

Page 15: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Trakla2: Binary Search Trees

Page 16: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

Lessons learned

Works! Extensive (!) set of exercises Random data every time

No gradable exercise support

Page 17: From the Trenches: What It’s Like to Try Out a New AV in Class Stephen Edwards edwards@cs.vt.edu Virginia Tech Department of Computer Science

The most important lessons … Do not expect it to be perfect

Be patient!

Be persistent!

Be flexible!