Re: [xml-dev] XML API Course Content: Yoir opinion

[Jonas Mellin <jonas.mellin@his.se>]

Michael Kay wrote, On 2008-10-03 00:17:
> I'm a little surprised to see this level of programming detail in a
> non-computer-science course, but it all depends what you are trying to
> achieve.
>   
It was originally developed for computer scientists, then it was 
somewhat sloppily included into the softer programs. In these softer 
study programs they do take programming assignments, BUT that is not 
their main focus.
> The main consideration in choosing what technologies to teach your students
> should be the likelihood that they will need to learn some completely
> different technology once they are employed, and at least one new technology
> per year if they are to remain employed. The only durable skills you are
> teaching are problem solving, teamwork, information gathering, etc - and of
> course the ability to learn new skills. Also I would hope that they learn as
> much from the choice of application to tackle (e.g. web site design) as from
> the tools used to tackle it.
>   
I agree fully to this and as time moves on, the content need to change. 
This is included in the course as much as is possible at the  level 
which it is given. I am always trying to get the learn how to learn 
ability exercised in all the courses I am involved in. If anyone is 
interested, I can go into more detail but it is off-topic to this list.
> I do think that particularly with non-computer-scientists you should be
> teaching higher-level languages rather than lower-level programming
> interfaces (like PHP/DOM). That should give the students more time to
> concentrate on the usability of the system they are developing rather than
> getting bogged down in low-level debugging. And it's closer to industrial
> good practice: the only reason for using lower-level interfaces is that you
> need the performance, and your students don't.
>   
I agree. The course runs from top to bottom (where they only go into DOM 
and SAX for some partial tasks to be able to tell that they at least 
have tried it out and know approximately what it is about).

/Jonas
>
> Michael Kay
> http://www.saxonica.com/
>
>   
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jonas Mellin [mailto:jonas.mellin@his.se] 
>> Sent: 02 October 2008 22:44
>> To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
>> Subject: [xml-dev] XML API Course Content: Yoir opinion
>>
>> Dear all, I am running a course in XML API at university level. 
>> Currently, it has been added to the curricula of a number of 
>> non-computer scientist study programs (more informatics, web design
>> etc.) and the program directors are concerned with the amount 
>> of programming that is involved in the course. The reason is 
>> my strong belief in that the students must range through the 
>> state of-the art techniques for processing XML to be able to 
>> telll future employers as well as themselves that they know 
>> XML APIs. Currently, they get a briefer of XSLT,  XQuery, XML 
>> Schema, DOM and SAX which they apply to three different XML 
>> sources so they can compare and contrast. The students get 
>> template programs in which they have to fill in details (of 
>> different levels of difficulty) as well as tools for directly 
>> validating if their output is correct or not. Note that XSLT, 
>> XQuery etc. are not strictly APIs, but I cover them since 
>> they are among the major basic ways of processing XML in my 
>> view. Students typically feel that they get feedback quickly 
>> and get insight in how to process XML. Strangely, they favor 
>> XSLT over XQuery even though they have studies SQL before.
>>
>> The course is 25% of s semester and at basic level 
>> (undergraduate) level. (In Europes, in 7,5 ECTS credits). It 
>> is preceded by a course that covers the basic XML stuff 
>> (well-formedness, tags, elements, attribute etc.).
>>
>> Now, one of the program directors essentially wants the 
>> students to write a PHP program accessing an XML source and 
>> display as HTML. He considers this to be sufficient for a 
>> pass. So, we have a slight difference in opinion of what is 
>> required to pass an XML API course.
>>
>> So, what is your opinion?
>>
>> --
>> Carpe Diem!
>> ===
>> Jonas Mellin, Assistant Professor in Computer Science School 
>> of Humanities and Informatics, Building E-2 University of 
>> Skövde, P.O. Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden
>> Phone: +46 500 448321, Fax: +46 500 448399
>> Email: jonas.mellin@his.se, URL: http://www.his.se/melj
>>
>>
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>>     
>
>
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>   


-- 
Carpe Diem!
===
Jonas Mellin, Assistant Professor in Computer Science
School of Humanities and Informatics, Building E-2
University of Skövde, P.O. Box 408, SE-541 28 Skövde, Sweden
Phone: +46 500 448321, Fax: +46 500 448399
Email: jonas.mellin@his.se, URL: http://www.his.se/melj