James A. M. McHugh

Mining the World Wide Web

Chang et al. present information retrieval from distributed data sources with a focus on the World Wide Web (WWW). The specific topics explored include: keyword and query based search engines; mediators and wrappers; multimedia search engines; data, text, and web mining; and web crawling agents. A few tools and some related technologies are introduced for each of these topics, but the descriptions are very brief and only scan the surface. The book is primarily intended as a supplement for upper-level undergraduate or graduate courses in data mining, databases, and information retrieval and then as a reference manual for practitioners. However it falls short on the first objective. The coverage lacks both depth and comprehensiveness on some important conceptual issues. At best it surveys very superficially a handful of techniques. Its usefulness as a supplemental reading book would have required the inclusion of either a set of problems and/or research questions at the end of each section to help students in investigating those issues cursorily presented in the main textbook. At the same time, the main concepts utilized in each technique should have received better coverage. The book meets the second objective. It can indeed very well serve as a quick reference manual for practitioners, who by the nature of their work have limited time to investigate in some depth new and future developments in their specific or related fields. This book gives them an opporttmity to see what may be coming down the pipeline in the area of distributed sources of information on the web. The book is divided into three parts: information retrieval on the web, data mining on the web, and a case study in environmental engineering. The first two chapters, which cover keyword and query based search engines, are excellent. The material is succinct and written in a proactive mode, which does stimulate a readers interest. Then a chapter on mediators and wrappers follows. In my view, its coverage has a lot of room for improvement, as the presentation does not do justice to the extensive research that took place in this specific topic in the last few years. The chapter on multimedia search engines could have actually been put in an appendix without significantly altering the flow in the book. Beyond a terse description of these engines, the rest of the chapter was hurriedly written and the coverage is poor. While multi-media databases are still emerging,

A common model for problem solving and program development

We present a domain-specific problem solving model to facilitate the study of programming. Specifically, we address how problem solving and programming can be closely integrated and taught to beginning students and what are the necessary knowledge and skills to enhance students ability to become effective problem solvers and programmers. To accomplish this, we synthesized a common model for problem solving, based on a review of existing methodologies, that integrates the tasks of program development, and elaborates the required cognitive knowledge and skills. The common model explicitly encourages students to adhere to a well-specified six-stage process of formulating the problem, planning, designing, translating, testing, and delivering the solution.

A Survey and Critical Analysis of Tools for Learning Programming

Systems and methodologies have been developed to improve the learning and practice of programming. We examine the kinds of support tools that have been developed to date, and we discuss their role ...

Strategic Software Engineering: An Interdisciplinary Approach

THE PROCESS AND ITS MODELS Software Development Strategies: Basic Planning and Control Introduction Characteristics of Software Development Strategies Life Cycle Models Risk-Reduction Models Software Development Strategies: Tools, Objects, and Reuse Introduction CASE Tools Object-Oriented and Reuse Models Software Development Strategies: Process Improvement Introduction Productivity-Driven Dynamic Process Modeling Human Factors in Development Models The Capability Maturity Model Personal and Team Software Development Models Software Development Strategies-Reinventing How It Is Done Introduction Open Source Model Agile Software Development Rapid Application Development (RAD) Models Workflow Application Models Aspect-Oriented Development An Assessment of Process Life-Cycle Models Introduction The Dimension of Time The Need for a Business Model in Software Engineering Classic Invalid Assumptions Implications of the New Business Model Role of the Problem-Solving Process in This Approach Redefining the Software Engineering Process STRATEGIES FOR SOLVING SOFTWARE PROBLEMS The Problem-Solving Process Introduction What is a Problem? What is Problem Solving? What is a Solution? Software Technology and Problem Solving Introduction Software Technology as Enabling Business Tool-What Computers Can Do Software Technology as a Limited Business Tool-What Computers Cannot Do A View of Problem Solving and Software Engineering Evolution of Software Development Strategies Introduction Current Challenges to Software Development Competing Views of Software Development The Engineering of Software The Process and the Model Progression in Software Engineering Strategies Diversification of Problem-Solving Strategies in Software Engineering Introduction Understanding Diversification in Software Engineering The Hidden Value of Differences Integration-Not Differentiation Diversity in Problem Solver Skills at the Project Management Level Diversity as Value-Adding Tool in Problem Analysis Strategies at the Problem Engineering Level Introduction Identifying Interdisciplinary Resources and Comprehensive Problem Identification Data Collection Phase Data Processing Phase Information Presentation Phase Strategies in Software Engineering INTERDISCIPLINARY FACTORS IN SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT People and Software Engineering Introduction Interdisciplinary Background The Importance of People in the Problem-Solving Process Human-Driven Software Engineering The People Factor-Multidisciplinary Aspects The Team Factor The Customer Factor Economics and Software Engineering Introduction Economics and the Development of Software The Rationale for Software Economics The Influence of Software Economics on Software Engineering Software Economics Risk and Return Traditional Software Economics Software Cost Specialized System Development Introduction Principles of Specialized System Development Application-Based Specialized Development

A model for collaborative technologies in manufacturing

Groupware or collaborative systems allow a team to interact in a shared workspace despite geographical separation or diverse schedules. Current collaborative integrated manufacturing systems tend to focus on the design stage of the development process. However, design is only one stage of standard frameworks for problem-solving-based development, which typically include a more comprehensive set of stages from problem formulation, planning and design to testing and deployment. Problem solving methodologies and tools, originally developed for single-user environments, can be extended to multi-user collaborative problem solving models and systems. This paper considers the characteristics of existing collaborative systems in manufacturing and then proposes a methodology-based, object-oriented view of the structure of such systems, which also addresses such factors as the effect of distributed cognition and social protocols. We then show that existing research on both individual and collaborative problem solving models pertinent to groupware systems theory, as well as work on the effect of factors such as group cognition, group psychology, sociology and team dynamics, support this approach to the design of collaborative manufacturing environments.

A formal approach to modeling office information systems

This paper formally specifies a document model for office information systems, including formal definitions of document types (frame templates), a document type hierarchy, folders, and folder organizations. Folder Organizations are defined using predicates and directed graphs. AReconstruction Problem for folder organizations is then formulated; viz., under what circumstances it is possible to reconstruct a folder organization from its folder level predicates. The Reconstruction Problem is solved in terms of such graph-theoretic concepts as Associated Digraphs, transitive closure, and redundant/nonredundant filing paths. A Transitive Closure Inversion algorithm is then presented which efficiently recovers a Folder Organization digraph from its Associated Digraph.

Methodology and technology for learning programming

This paper discusses methodology and technology to aid students learning programming. We have identified and integrated the problem solving and program development skills and knowledge students need to apply when programming with the cognitive activities required to accomplish these tasks. We then developed a composite methodological/software environment that supports the overall process of programming in a manner that gives appropriate weight to both language issues and problem solving. The results of a classroom evaluation of the method and the tool are then presented.

On the evaluation of a problem solving and program development environment

When learning problem solving and program development, understanding programming (i.e. the syntax of a programming language) and implementation is only part of the picture. Developing the cognitive skills to comprehend and abstract the problem and its requirements, explore and transform the problem into a coherent form, design, develop and test the solution to the problem is the other part. To expect effective and efficient solutions to be produced, a considerable amount of important and creative work must be done before the program can be written. Students learning programming, using current tools, are accustomed to the entry point in any programming language environment being through the compilers editor. As a result, when presented with a problem, students tend to reach for the keyboard and start the coding. This creates the impression that the formulation of the solution to the problem starts by writing the code, a habit that must be altered.

An Edge Extremal Result for Subcohesion

Abstract The edge-subconnectivity of a graph is defined to be the largest of all the subgraph edge connectivities. A graph is said to be type ( n , l ) if no subgraph on l or more points is n -edge connected. A canonical class of ( n , l ) graphs called star-like-( n, l ) graphs are introduced. It is then shown that no ( n , l ) graph has more edges than these canonical graphs.

Strategies for Improving Open Source Software Usability: An Exploratory Learning Framework and a Web-based Inspection Tool

The Open Source Software (OSS) movement has had enormous impact on how software is created and continues to attract interest from researchers, software developers and users. A factor that may be inhibiting OSS from achieving greater success is usability, a fundamental characteristic to user acceptance of software. Motivated by the uniquely user-driven nature of the open source model and the extensive user base that participates in OSS projects, the authors propose an exploratory learning method and an associated web-based inspection environment that enables non-experts to contribute to open source usability inspection. This tool uses patternbased usability guidelines to help identify usability knowledge during inspection. The method emphasizes outlining and exploration features which the authors have formally evaluated and the results of which are described. Data collected from a qualitative study indicates positive impact of the proposed method in helping end-users inspect software and achieve better results in discovering usability problems.