Programming in the Large Vs. Programming in the Lounge: Software Engineering Meets Portable Computing

几年来，卡耐基梅隆大学（Carnegie Mellon University）的本科软件工程课程一直围绕着一个雄心勃勃的真实系统的规范、设计和原型，比如一个电子邮件到传真（FAX）的接口和一个包括建筑目录、地图和公交路线信息的交互式城市目录系统。组织一个由大约30名学生组成的班级朝着一个单一的技术目标前进的过程本身就是这门课程的目标课程之一。ILI的资金将通过提供给每个学生使用的带有无线网络接口的笔记本电脑，帮助将这门课程提升到一个令人兴奋的新水平。学生将使用电脑来组织他们的小组项目，并在实施过程中进行协作。学生们还将在网络上实现他们的系统，为无限的项目原型协作和个人生产力工具打开大门。预计该项目将带来三大好处。首先，该课程的学生将有机会接触最前沿的技术和应用程序，这些技术和应用程序很快就会普及。其次，正是由于这个原因，软件公司可能会对这些项目产生浓厚的兴趣，这些项目实际上是在对新产品进行快速原型设计，并且会渴望作为课程的客户和技术顾问与学生进行互动。第三，随着硬件成本的下降和无线便携系统的普及，这些经验将有助于为其他机构开始类似的项目铺平道路，向他们的学生介绍新兴的消费信息技术。

For several years, the undergraduate software engineering course at Carnegie Mellon University has revolved around the specification, design and prototyping of an ambitious real system such as an E-mail to FAX interface and an interactive city directory system including building directories, maps and bus routing information. The process of organizing an entire class of some thirty students toward a single technical goal is itself one of the object lessons of the course. This ILI funding will assist in moving this course to a new level of excitement, by providing a notebook computer with a wireless network interface to be used by each student. Students will use the computers to organize their group project and work collaboratively on its implementation. The students will also implement their system on the network, opening the door to a limitless set of projects prototyping collaborative and personal productivity tools. Three main benefits are expected from this project. First, the students in the course will have a chance to work with technologies and applications that are at the cutting edge, but will soon be widespread. Second, for that very reason, software companies may be expected to take a keen interest in these projects, which will in effect be doing rapid prototyping of new kinds of products, and will be eager to interact with the students as clients and technical advisors for the course. Third, the experiences will help to pave the way for other institutions to start similar programs, introducing their students to emerging consumer information technology, as hardware costs drop and wireless portable systems become ubiquitous.