The nonprofit mySociety.org recently launched an initiative to fund low-cost, socially beneficial IT projects that operate over electronic networks. The organization has encouraged the online submission of proposals for the first two projects, and ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item8

MIT researcher Hiroshi Ishii has long explored alternate ways for people to view and manipulate data that offer more flexibility and simplicity than keyboards, monitors, and mice. The "tangible" interfaces Ishii's team has developed, which ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1105w.html#item17

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2949

PCs have shrunk in size and grown in power, but their architecture and design methodology is relatively unchanged, as is their chief uses of word processing, graphic presentation, and spreadsheets. However, PC manufacturers will likely approach ... http://www.acm.org/technews/articles/2003-5/1107f.html#item7

The home page of the project is http://www.freebsoft.org/speechd-el .

Miguel Paraz saw my TODO on finding a Java interpreter and he pointed me to Beanshell. I've been thinking about using a Java interpreter in my introductory computing class in order to help my students grasp Java concepts more easily. Students can use the Beanshell interpreter to explore arithmetic expressions, variables, input (through JOptionPane), Boolean logic, ifs, loops, and even a little bit of object-oriented programming.

It's an experimental technique, and I have some concerns regarding the transfer of knowledge. I need to make sure that they'll be able to work with standard Java programs well.

Another interactive Java environment I want to explore is BlueJ. It's explicitly designed for introductory computing and it emphasizes object-oriented programming.

With only a few days before the start of classes, I do not think I'll be able to prepare well enough to use either environment next sem. However, I would like to experiment this summer, if we are still offering CS21A then.

I think BlueJ suits my needs more - it allows people to evaluate expressions easily, too - but I'll need to find or make sample projects before I can deploy it. I think it might make a good starting point, though...

... which means I need to work Really Hard if I want to try it out this sem.

- http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I'll use it as a starting point.

People have raised some concerns, like whether or not BlueJ will insulate programmers too much. I think, however, that it might work for the introductory computing course.

- http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I'll use it as a starting point.

People have raised some concerns, like whether or not BlueJ will insulate programmers too much. I think, however, that it might work for the introductory computing course.

- http://www.rdv.vslib.cz/skodak/en/bluej/draw_tutorial/index.html - http://www.sleepinggiantsoftware.com/FGJ/tutorials.htm: This is actually pretty cool, as it explains dependencies. I think I'll use it as a starting point.

People have raised some concerns, like whether or not BlueJ will insulate programmers too much. I think, however, that it might work for the introductory computing course.

http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/457382.html