Book review: introduction to computational biology

By Randolph Chung

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Algorithms, Computational biology, Genetics, Systems biology

Web site review: the Ada project

By Lynellen D. S. Perry

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Design, Human Factors, Languages, Social and professional topics, Web applications, Web services, Web-based interaction

Objective viewpoint: Java AWT layout management 101

This article provides a brief summary of basic layout management in the Java Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) and is intended to serve as a foundation for more sophisticated AWT programming.

By George Crawford

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Design, Language types, Languages, Object oriented languages, Performance, Theory

Ask Jack: careerline Q & A

By Jack Wilson

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Computing occupations, Design, Human Factors, Management, Performance, Theory

A formative evaluation of scenario-based tools for learning object-oriented design

Advances in computing have awakened a century old teaching philosophy: learner-centered education. This philosophy is founded on the premise that people learn best when engrossed in the topic, participating in activities that motivate learning and help them to synthesize their own understanding. We consider how the object-oriented design (OOD) learning tools developed by Rosson and Carroll [5] facilitate active learning of this sort. We observed sixteen students as they worked through a set of user interaction scenarios about a blackjack game. We discuss how the features of these learning tools influenced the students' efforts to learn the basic constructs of OOD.

By Hope D. Harley, Cheryl D. Seals, Mary Beth Rosson

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Design, Designing software, Human Factors, Management, Model curricula, Object oriented languages, Performance, Requirements analysis, Theory

Much ado about patterns

By Robert Zubek

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Design, Languages, Patterns, Performance, Theory

Explanation component of software system

Explanation is an important feature that needs to be integrated into software products. Early software that filled the horizontal software market (such as word processors) contained help systems. More specialized systems, known as expert systems, were developed to produce solutions that required specific domain knowledge of the problem being solved. The expert systems initially produced results that were consistent with the results produced by experts, but the expert systems only mimicked the rules the experts outlined. The decisions provided by expert systems include no justification, thus causing users to doubt the results reported by the system. If the user was dealing with a human expert, he could ask for a line of reasoning used to draw the conclusion. The line of reasoning provided by the human expert could then be inspected for discrepancies by another expert or verified in some other manner. Software systems need better explanations of how to use them and how they produce results. This will allow the users to take advantage of the numerous features being provided and increase their trust in the software product.

By Bruce A. Wooley

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Design, Human computer interaction (HCI), Languages, Performance, Software and its engineering, Software management, Theory

Road crew

By Lynellen D. S. Perry

HTML | In the Digital Library
Tags: Human Factors, Human computer interaction (HCI)