500,841 research outputs found
Software for physics of tau lepton decay in LHC experiments
Software development in high energy physics experiments offers unique
experience with rapidly changing environment and variety of different standards
and frameworks that software must be adapted to. As such, regular methods of
software development are hard to use as they do not take into account how
greatly some of these changes influence the whole structure. The following
thesis summarizes development of TAUOLA C++ Interface introducing tau decays to
new event record standard. Documentation of the program is already published.
That is why it is not recalled here again. We focus on the development cycle
and methodology used in the project, starting from the definition of the
expectations through planning and designing the abstract model and concluding
with the implementation. In the last part of the paper we present installation
of the software within different experiments surrounding Large Hadron Collider
and the problems that emerged during this process.Comment: Thesis submitted to Applied Computer Science Department in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the MSc degree. This work is partially
supported by EU Marie Curie Research Training Network grant under the
contract No. MRTN-CT-2006-0355505, Polish Government grant N202 06434
(2008-2011) and EU-RTN Programme: Contract No. MRTN-CT-2006-035482
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Introducing Java : the case for fundamentals-first
Java has increasingly become the language of choice for teaching introductory programming. In this paper, we examine the different approaches to teaching Java (Objects-first, Fundamentals-first and GUI-first) to ascertain whether there exists an agreed ordering of topics and difficulty levels between nine relatively basic Java topics. The results of our literature survey and student questionnaire suggests that the Fundamentals-first approach may have benefits from the student's point of view and an agreed ordering of the Java topics accompanying this approach has been established
Empirical modelling principles to support learning in a cultural context
Much research on pedagogy stresses the need for a broad perspective on learning. Such a perspective might take account (for instance) of the experience that informs knowledge and understanding [Tur91], the situation in which the learning activity takes place [Lav88], and the influence of multiple intelligences [Gar83]. Educational technology appears to hold great promise in this connection. Computer-related technologies such as new media, the internet, virtual reality and brain-mediated communication afford access to a range of learning resources that grows ever wider in its scope and supports ever more sophisticated interactions.
Whether educational technology is fulfilling its potential in broadening the horizons for learning activity is more controversial. Though some see the successful development of radically new educational resources as merely a matter of time, investment and engineering, there are also many critics of the trends in computer-based learning who see little evidence of the greater degree of human engagement to which new technologies aspire [Tal95].
This paper reviews the potential application to educational technology of principles and tools for computer-based modelling that have been developed under the auspices of the Empirical Modelling (EM) project at Warwick [EMweb]. This theme was first addressed at length in a previous paper [Bey97], and is here revisited in the light of new practical developments in EM both in respect of tools and of model-building that has been targetted at education at various levels. Our central thesis is that the problems of educational technology stem from the limitations of current conceptual frameworks and tool support for the essential cognitive model building activity, and that tackling these problems requires a radical shift in philosophical perspective on the nature and role of empirical knowledge that has significant practical implications.
The paper is in two main sections. The first discusses the limitations of the classical computer science perspective where educational technology to support situated learning is concerned, and relates the learning activities that are most closely associated with a cultural context to the empiricist perspective on learning introduced in [Bey97]. The second outlines the principles of EM and describes and illustrates features of its practical application that are particularly well-suited to learning in a cultural setting
Specification and Construction of Control Flow Semantics
In this paper we propose a visual language CFSL for specifying control flow semantics of programming languages. We also present a translation from CFSL to graph production systems (GPS) for flow graph construction; that is, any CFSL specification, say for a language L, gives rise to a GPS that constructs from any L-program (represented as an abstract syntax graph) the corresponding flow graph. The specification language is rich enough to capture complex language constructs, including all of Java
Virtual Machine Support for Many-Core Architectures: Decoupling Abstract from Concrete Concurrency Models
The upcoming many-core architectures require software developers to exploit
concurrency to utilize available computational power. Today's high-level
language virtual machines (VMs), which are a cornerstone of software
development, do not provide sufficient abstraction for concurrency concepts. We
analyze concrete and abstract concurrency models and identify the challenges
they impose for VMs. To provide sufficient concurrency support in VMs, we
propose to integrate concurrency operations into VM instruction sets.
Since there will always be VMs optimized for special purposes, our goal is to
develop a methodology to design instruction sets with concurrency support.
Therefore, we also propose a list of trade-offs that have to be investigated to
advise the design of such instruction sets.
As a first experiment, we implemented one instruction set extension for
shared memory and one for non-shared memory concurrency. From our experimental
results, we derived a list of requirements for a full-grown experimental
environment for further research
Creating And Solving Model Of Linear Equation Through The Balance At Junior Secondary Class
Algebra is one of the most difficult subject felt by most students and this strand is just started given to the students at early junior secondary school. Infact, if we can manage the algebra subject wisely and attractively, it can be predicted that the studentsā conceptual understanding algebra would be relatively improved.
A study was conducted to the Year 7 students at a Junior Secondary of Laboratory School of UPI. The class was set to learn the linear equation topic by using balance (scales).
Through a weighing activity, the students were able to design linear equation models. They followed a guidelines created by the teacher and researcher. The students were not only able to create linear equation models, but also were able to solve mathematical model of linear equation. By using steps of balance (weighing), finally the students were able to know the weight of a hidden quantity.
A number of teachers were involved in an observation activity which were designed in a lesson study context. Information related to the studentsā reaction as well as the teachersā reaction toward the implementation of creating and designing models of linear equation. The information were analysed qualitatively. The results indicate that introducing the linear equation through the scale (balance) were responded positively by the students. A brief interview with the students indicated that the students fluently could solve linear equation, and find the value of variable which infact as a weight variable. This variable seemed to be the weight of hidden variable as the solution of the linear equation.
Moreover, the students were able to interpret the process of weighing to the form of linear equation, since then the students solved it and found the solution of the problem.
While other teachers as observers at the lesson gave comments that the model teacher had practiced the concept of linear equation by using unusual way of teaching.
Intuitively they solved the linear equation by using step by step of weighing process and determined how much weight of an object. The process of weighing and thinking are parallel to solving a linear equation.
Data of test results regarding the linear equation indicated that the studentsā understanding of linear equation improved. The researchers recommend to use the balance (scales) as an alternative to teach the topic of linear equation.
Keywords: Balance, realistic, and lesson study
Proactive Empirical Assessment of New Language Feature Adoption via Automated Refactoring: The Case of Java 8 Default Methods
Programming languages and platforms improve over time, sometimes resulting in
new language features that offer many benefits. However, despite these
benefits, developers may not always be willing to adopt them in their projects
for various reasons. In this paper, we describe an empirical study where we
assess the adoption of a particular new language feature. Studying how
developers use (or do not use) new language features is important in
programming language research and engineering because it gives designers
insight into the usability of the language to create meaning programs in that
language. This knowledge, in turn, can drive future innovations in the area.
Here, we explore Java 8 default methods, which allow interfaces to contain
(instance) method implementations.
Default methods can ease interface evolution, make certain ubiquitous design
patterns redundant, and improve both modularity and maintainability. A focus of
this work is to discover, through a scientific approach and a novel technique,
situations where developers found these constructs useful and where they did
not, and the reasons for each. Although several studies center around assessing
new language features, to the best of our knowledge, this kind of construct has
not been previously considered.
Despite their benefits, we found that developers did not adopt default
methods in all situations. Our study consisted of submitting pull requests
introducing the language feature to 19 real-world, open source Java projects
without altering original program semantics. This novel assessment technique is
proactive in that the adoption was driven by an automatic refactoring approach
rather than waiting for developers to discover and integrate the feature
themselves. In this way, we set forth best practices and patterns of using the
language feature effectively earlier rather than later and are able to possibly
guide (near) future language evolution. We foresee this technique to be useful
in assessing other new language features, design patterns, and other
programming idioms
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