JavaWIDE:About

From JavaWIDE

Getting Started

Late in the semester at Georgia Gwinnett College, I learned that I would be teaching the Introduction to Programming course ITEC2120. I started to realize that I had better contact the IT support at the school soon to make sure all of the necessary software would be installed in time for me to start teaching in January. I thought, "Install Eclipse and Java 1.6, how hard will that be?" After talking to support staff, I started to realize that this was actually a more complex task that I had first imagined. Then on Friday November 30, 2007, I had an epiphany - wouldn't it be great if student could create and share programs directly on a Wiki without needing to intall any software. By Monday, the idea had become a reality as the first prototype came into existence. Just by editing the wiki, it was now possible to seamless create, run and share Java applets with family and friends.

Rapid Prototyping

Over the next three weeks, I started realizing the impact of the discovery I had made as I rapidly built the prototype. The initial version was only to make games online using the Freely Available Networked Gaming (FANG) Engine. By December 6 I demonstrated JavaWIDE in the classroom setting and had students modifying a game in under 30 minutes. These were students who had no prior programming experience or direct instruction on how to program. I simply showed them how to edit and save a wiki page and they began programming immediately by recognizing patterns and trial and error. Before JavaWIDE, this process was much more complicated and intimidating to the students.

On a cycle ride to get Indian takeout (my weekly ride), I realized that it would actually be possible for students and others to write applications, provided they don't violate any security restrictions. Just a few days later, this too became possible. I very soon understood that this project was far larger than anything I could complete on my own without help. This is when I contacted a few colleagues with the idea. They had some great ideas and we have now decided to pursue outside funding from governmental and commercial sources. As soon as we receive funding, we will be able to rapidly develop and distribute this software.

Early Use

By December 21, 2007, I decided that JavaWIDE was developed enough to use in the classroom setting for use in Introduction to Programming Spring 2008. In addition, it will likely be used in the SIGCSE workshop 'Using the FANG Engine to Teach CS1' as the platform to explore writing video games in Java. Tentatively, I will also use JavaWIDE to teach students in India in Summer 2008. All the software I need for teaching this course in India can be run from my laptop. If the computers are connected to a network, then my laptop will be able to serve them all through their computers' web browsers - their computers won't even need a connection to the Internet!