Teaching with Combinatorica and Semantica

石溪大学的计算机科学系和语言学系因一个共同的情况走到了一起。目前，两个系都在进行涉及创新教育软件和课程的创建和发展的本科科学和数学项目。该项目强调计算机科学和语言学的实验性质。它建立在由Steven Skiena开发的PIs Combinatorica开发的软件上，该软件已成为研究和教育中使用最广泛的组合计算环境。该系统是在Mathematica中实现的，包含230多个组合学和图论函数。1991年，Combinatorica获得了EDUCOM高等教育软件杰出数学软件奖，并已在全球200多所教育机构中使用。Semantica是一本关于语言语义的交互式工作手册，目前由Richard K. Larson（语言学系）和David S. Warren（计算机科学系）通过国家科学基金会课程和课程开发计划的三年资助开发。基于Prolog计算引擎，并具有广泛的视觉和自然语言支持，Semantica将构成语言学语义本科课程的基础。让学生接触像Combinatorica这样的工具，鼓励他们将计算机科学视为一门实验学科。通过观察组合爆炸等现象，发现ıstudents！…听到课堂上的讨论，他们将对理论如何从实践中产生有更深的理解。使用Syntactica，学生将能够直接创建，观察和实验规范语言表达的形式规则。规则系统的互动、动手操作将有力地加强语言学事业的实验性质，以及其结果的科学特征。

The Computer Science and Linguistics departments at Stony Brook have been drawn together by a common situation. At present, both departments are pursuing undergraduate science and mathematics projects that involve the creation and development of innovative educational software and curricula.The project emphasizes the experimental nature of computer science and linguistics. It builds on the software developed by the PIs Combinatorica, developed by Steven Skiena, has become the most widely used combinatorial computing environment for research and education. The system is implemented in Mathematica, and comprises over 230 functions for combinatorics and graph theory. In 1991, Combinatorica received an EDUCOM Higher Education Software Award for Distinguished Mathematics Software, and has been used at over 200 educational institutions around the world. Semantica is an interactive workbook for linguistic semantics currently under development by Richard K. Larson (Dept. of Linguistics) and David S. Warren (Dept. of Computer Science), through a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Course and Curriculum Development program. Based on a Prolog computing engine, and with extensive visual and natural language support, Semantica will form the basis of an undergraduate course in linguistic semantics.Exposing students to a tool like Combinatorica encourages viewing computer science as an experimental discipline. By observing phenomenon, such as combinatorial explosion, that ıstudents! ... hear discussed in class, they will gain a deeper appreciation for how the theory arises from practice. Using Syntactica, students will be able to directly create, observe and experiment with the formal rules governing well-formedness of linguistic expressions. The interactive, hands-on manipulation of rule systems will strongly reinforce the experimental nature of the linguistics enterprise, and the scientific chanracter of its results.