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What is JERPA?
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The Environment for Remote Programming Assignments in Java (JERPA) is a software package designed to simplify the process of completing Java-based programming assignments on a variety of platforms (for now, we are focusing on Microsoft Windows and UNIX/Linux). The DLE is under development at the Brown University Computer Science Department, where it has been initially tested with two Java-based intro-level Computer Science courses, CS15: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming and Computer Science and CS16: Introduction to Algorithms and Data Structures.
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How does the JERPA work?
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The JERPA environment consists of the following key components:
The Student Client
The student client is used to adapt the local platform for use with assignments that were originally developed for a different environment (in the case of Brown, the Java-friendly Solaris platform). This includes managing and updating support code locally, handling virtual machine/classpath issues, and streamlining the process of loading assignment code stencils for use with an external development environment (see "Third-Party IDE's," below).
The Course Server
The course server is an web-based collection of files and utilities accessible via the web to all student users of JERPA. The server stores all course and assignment information, including assignment stencils and support code archives. The client stays in regular contact with this server while running to ensure that the information and code being worked with remotely is up to date with the latest versions and updates available from the server.
The Administrator Client
The administrator client provides a set of easy-to-use utilities that allows course instructors and TA's to manage the contents of the course server. The utility simplifies the process of taking existing assignments and packaging them into JERPA-ready modules.
Third-Party IDE's
While the student client handles the task of trasferring all necessary assignment materials to a remote computer, it does not serve as a full Java development environment, so students are on their own when it comes to coding, testing, and debugging their work. While this can be accomplished using a minimal setup of a basic text-editor and the command line, one useful feature provided by the student client is the ability to export installed assignment to third-party development environments, such as Microsoft's Visual J++. While no third-party IDE's are required for a basic JERPA setup, students already familiar with these applications may prefer to work in such an environment.
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Why use JERPA?
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The goal of the current experiment involving the DLE and CS16 is to allow students who prefer working on a platform other than Solaris to do so in a simple, straightforward manner.
Java-based assignments could, in theory, be completed on Windows with nothing more than Sun's JDK (Java Development Kit), a text editor such as Notepad, and the command prompt. However, this is a rather tedious process, as it requires an extensive knowledge of the technical aspects of Java development that are usually handled for the students on the UNIX platform by login scripts and modules. It would also require extensive use of the MS-DOS command line, which (unlike the UNIX shell in Solaris) is rarely used by most Windows users today.
The DLE helps eliminate the hassle associated with manually porting each assignment to Windows from Solaris. This makes working on Windows a much more feasible option for students who otherwise would not be willing to accept the added hassle and instead choose to work in the Sunlab.
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