Gradually learning programming supported by a growable programming language

Learning programming is a difficult task. The learning process is particularly disorienting when you are approaching programming for the first time. As a student you are exposed to several new concepts (control flow, variable, etc. but also coding, compiling etc.) and new ways to think (algorithms). Teachers try to expose the students gradually to the new concepts by presenting them one by one but the tools at student's disposal do not help: they provide support, suggestion and documentation for the full programming language of choice hampering the teacher's efforts. On the other side, students need to learn real languages and not didactic languages. In this work we propose an approach to gradually teaching programming supported by a programming language that grows---together with its implementation---along with the number of concepts presented to the students. The proposed approach can be applied to the teaching of any programming language and some experiments with Javascript are reported

Ann: A domain-specific language for the effective design and validation of Java annotations

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Computer Languages, Systems & Structures. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Computer Languages, Systems & Structures, VOL 45, (2016) DOI 10.1016/j.cl.2016.02.002This paper describes a new modelling language for the effective design and validation of Java annotations. Since their inclusion in the 5th edition of Java, annotations have grown from a useful tool for the addition of meta-data to play a central role in many popular software projects. Usually they are not conceived in isolation, but in groups, with dependency and integrity constraints between them. However, the native support provided by Java for expressing this design is very limited. To overcome its deficiencies and make explicit the rich conceptual model which lies behind a set of annotations, we propose a domain-specific modelling language. The proposal has been implemented as an Eclipse plug-in, including an editor and an integrated code generator that synthesises annotation processors. The environment also integrates a model finder, able to detect unsatisfiable constraints between different annotations, and to provide examples of correct annotation usages for validation. The language has been tested using a real set of annotations from the Java Persistence API (JPA). Within this subset we have found enough rich semantics expressible with Ann and omitted nowadays by the Java language, which shows the benefits of Ann in a relevant field of application.We would like to thank the reviewers for their detailed comments, which helped us in improving a previous version of this paper. This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitivity with project FLEXOR (TIN2014-52129-R) and the Community of Madrid with project SICOMORO-CM (S2013/ICE-3006)

A query language for exploratory analysis of video-based tracking data in padel matches

Recent advances in sensor technologies, in particular video-based human detection, object tracking and pose estimation, have opened new possibilities for the automatic or semi-automatic per-frame annotation of sport videos. In the case of racket sports such as tennis and padel, state-of- the-art deep learning methods allow the robust detection and tracking of the players from a single video, which can be combined with ball tracking and shot recognition techniques to obtain a precise description of the play state at every frame. These data, which might include the court-space position of the players, their speeds, accelerations, shots and ball trajectories, can be exported in tabular format for further analysis. Unfortunately, the limitations of traditional table-based methods for analyzing such sport data are twofold. On the one hand, these methods cannot represent complex spatio-temporal queries in a compact, readable way, usable by sport analysts. On the other hand, traditional data visualization tools often fail to convey all the information available in the video (such as the precise body motion before, during and after the execution of a shot) and resulting plots only show a small portion of the available data. In this paper we address these two limitations by focusing on the analysis of video-based tracking data of padel matches. In particular, we propose a domain-specific query language to facilitate coaches and sport analysts to write queries in a very compact form. Additionally, we enrich the data visualization plots by linking each data item to a specific segment of the video so that analysts have full access to all the details related to the query. We demonstrate the flexibility of our system by collecting and converting into readable queries multiple tips and hypotheses on padel strategies extracted from the literature.Postprint (published version

A Query Language for Exploratory Analysis of Video-Based Tracking Data in Padel Matches

Recent advances in sensor technologies, in particular video-based human detection, object tracking and pose estimation, have opened new possibilities for the automatic or semi-automatic per-frame annotation of sport videos. In the case of racket sports such as tennis and padel, state-of-the-art deep learning methods allow the robust detection and tracking of the players from a single video, which can be combined with ball tracking and shot recognition techniques to obtain a precise description of the play state at every frame. These data, which might include the court-space position of the players, their speeds, accelerations, shots and ball trajectories, can be exported in tabular format for further analysis. Unfortunately, the limitations of traditional table-based methods for analyzing such sport data are twofold. On the one hand, these methods cannot represent complex spatio-temporal queries in a compact, readable way, usable by sport analysts. On the other hand, traditional data visualization tools often fail to convey all the information available in the video (such as the precise body motion before, during and after the execution of a shot) and resulting plots only show a small portion of the available data. In this paper we address these two limitations by focusing on the analysis of video-based tracking data of padel matches. In particular, we propose a domain-specific query language to facilitate coaches and sport analysts to write queries in a very compact form. Additionally, we enrich the data visualization plots by linking each data item to a specific segment of the video so that analysts have full access to all the details related to the query. We demonstrate the flexibility of our system by collecting and converting into readable queries multiple tips and hypotheses on padel strategies extracted from the literature.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and FEDER funds, grant number PID2021-122136OB-C21, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE

Ann: a domain-specific language for the effective design and validation of Java annotations

This paper describes a new modelling language for the effective design and validation of Java annotations. Since their inclusion in the 5th edition of Java, annotations have grown from a useful tool for the addition of meta-data to play a central role in many popular software projects. Usually they are not conceived in isolation, but in groups, with dependency and integrity constraints between them. However, the native support provided by Java for expressing this design is very limited. To over come its deficiencies and make explicit the rich conceptual model which lies behind a set of annotations,we propose a domain-specific modelling language.The proposal has been implemented as an Eclipse plug-in, including an editor and an integrated code generator that synthesises annotation processors. The environmental so integrates a model finder,able to detectun satisfiable constraints between different annotations, and to provide examples of correct annotation usages for validation. The language has been tested using a real set of annotations from the Java Persistence API(JPA).Within this subset we have found enough rich semantics expressible with Ann and omitted nowadays by the Java language, which shows the benefits of Ann in are levant field of application

Echolocation: evaluation of finite element analysis of ultrasonic transducers

Echolocation is the process of building an acoustic image of the environment by sensing the ultrasonic echoes that are bounced off objects in the environment. It is naturally observed in bats and dolphins, who use it for navigation and orientation. The Finite Element Method is one of several numerical techniques that simplify the abstract equations of calculus and obtain approximate solutions for real-world physical problems. This thesis evaluates the suitability of various numerical \u27Element Methods\u27 for the modelling and design of ultrasonic transducers and the study of their radiated and scattered sound fields. To achieve this, it determines the selection criteria to choose between the alternate methods and identifies the essential set of elements that are required to model the problem. Further, it studies various commercial FEM software packages and identifies software language features necessary to implement the software package. It arrives at conclusions regarding the basic requirements to develop a minimal software package capable of modelling ultrasonic transducers. On the basis of this thesis, software can be developed to provide a structure upon which future researchers can build and develop more complex models, such as those involving transducers and their interaction with the environment