Jaime Niño

An overview of programming language based security

This paper provides a survey of security features in modern programming languages for Computer Science instructors. We present the role that type safety and capabilities provide for the building of secure systems, and how language systems allow designers to model security issues that once were part-and-parcel of Operating Systems, or that can not be modeled by the latter.

Type systems directed programming language evolution: overview and research trends

The popularity of untyped languages witnessed in the last decade compelled us to evaluate them against modern typed languages and programming methods. We analyze their differences seeking to bridge the gap. We conclude with an analysis of trends in language design that seeks a language having the strengths from both camps.

Designing an undergraduate curriculum based on parallelism and concurrency

The multi-core revolution has brought forth the pressing issue of deciding where in the curriculum to introduce parallel programming. At least 3 different strategies can be found, including the current one used, where concurrent programming is taught in Operating Systems. It is the position of this paper that we can embrace the 3 strategies and present parallelism as a fundamental notion in computing throughout the curriculum. We analyse curriculum directions, present parameters to consider to introduce parallelism, as well as a spiral approach to the subject starting in CS2.

Library unit development fundamentals

The teaching of the development of library units seems to lack the attention it deserves in undergraduate education. References to such topic can be found mainly for the professional programer. CS2 provides a great opportunity to teach an initial set of best practices and patterns for the design library units which provide students with a strong foundation for later use in the development of APIs. We present a carefully selected set of patterns and best practices culled through several years teaching data structures. These patterns and practices are aimed to guide the student in the specification, implementation and testing of library units.