.NET in the IT Curriculum

1. .NET in the IT Curriculum Paul Roe Queensland University of Technology, Australia p.roe@qut.edu.au

2. Brisbane QUT • Queensland University of Technology (QUT) • One of largest universities in Australia: 40,000+ students (undergraduate, postgraduate, 10% international) • Applied emphasis, strong links with industry e.g. Microsoft • Motto “A university for the real world” • Faculty of IT, 4000 students, 20% international

3. My Background • Academic at QUT for 12 years • Spent last 5 years utilising Microsoft .NET in teaching and research • Initially Project 7 - academic programming languages for .NET • Subsequently other projects and teaching • I am a computer scientist interested in • Programming languages • Distributed computing • Practical / applied emphasis • Disclaimer: these are my views, not Microsoft’s, not QUT’s

4. Overview • Teaching using .NET • Some QUT Subjects using .NET • Brief Aside: Research • Conclusions • Based on my experience (and others at QUT) • what we tried, what worked, what didn’t work, what we might try next, …

5. Why use .NET in Teaching? • State of the art: languages, runtime, libraries • Industry strength technology • Can do simple things with minimal effort • This can enable teaching new subjects / ideas e.g. web app design for non IT students • Can do exciting new things e.g. web services, mobile devices, games • Excellent support for internationalisation • In demand by industry • Students love it • .NET subjects very marketable • Add balance to degree (most degrees, lot of Java & Linux in subjects)

6. How to use .NET in Teaching? • Mix of technologies including .NET • Some subjects naturally comparative • E.g. Component technology, comparative programming languages • Or require a mix of technologies: web services • Single technology • Technology is a vehicle for teaching concepts • E.g. web applications, intro programming • Industry relevance e.g. ASP.NET • Simplicity e.g. business process design for business students using Biztalk

7. Academic Reality Check:What should you really be concerned about in order to teach a subject with a new technology like .NET ? • Resources, resources and resources! • Documentation • Textbooks • Reference material • Tutorials • Courseware • Videos • Software: availability, cost, resource implications, student access • Labs set-up and administration, systems administrators,… • People (with necessary skills) • Teaching assistants • Instructors • Students • Systems administrators

8. 1. Documentation • Documentation is excellent for .NET (my favourite feature!) • Problem is navigating through all the doco and finding what you want • There are good textbooks for .NET covering: • Intro programming using VB and C# • Compilers • Component software • Web applications • Web services • Even free online ones: http://www.brpreiss.com/books/opus6/ • Etc.

9. 1. Documentation: Professional • SDK and Visual Studio documentation is excellent, includes: • Lots of example code • Walk throughs http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/szatc41e.aspx e.g. Creating a web app • Programming guides e.g. C# http://msdn2.microsoft.com/library/67ef8sbd.aspx • .NET framework class library http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms306608.aspx • Quickstarts http://www.asp.net/Tutorials/quickstart.aspx • Developer website msdn.microsoft.com inc. • MSDN magazine – well written technical articles • MSDN developer centres for technology specific info http://msdn.microsoft.com/developercenters/ • Videos, discussions, PDC conference videos e.g. Don Box on SOA http://microsoft.sitestream.com/PDC05/, Channel 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/, training videos etc. • Demos: walkthroughs, Quickstarts and PDC

10. 1. Documentation: Academic • Academic Alliance web site http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic • Courseware: MS curriculum repositoryhttp://www.msdnaa.net/curriculum/repository.aspx • I use all these resources extensively • Augment lecture notes with 3rd party documentation • Can be difficult to find good overview documents suitable for academia

11. 1. Documentation: Community • Dev Hood www.devhood.com (for prof developers) • Gotdotnet www.gotdotnet.com • Singapore http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/msdn/academic/ • Community site for students http://thespoke.net • MSDN connection Singapore http://www.microsoft.com/singapore/msdn/connection/default.mspx for professional, faculty and students

12. 2. Software • .NET SDK is free, as is Rotor (SSCLI - Shared Source .NET) and Mono (Open Source .NET) • Visual Studio 2005 and SQL server express editions free • Good for basic development, inc basic web dev • http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/ • MSDN Academic Alliance (MSDN AA) http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic/ • Cheap scheme for: • Labs: Can install Microsoft development s/w in labs • Students: They can legally install same software on own PCs (for free!) • A great scheme! Includes Windows, VS 2005, … • If going to teach .NET ask Microsoft rep. about this • Overview presentation on the scheme http://download.microsoft.com/download/f/f/8/ff8c8040-d1a7-4402-90df-5d1aaa7d37af/program_overview.ppt

13. 3. Labs • Lots of issues, many different ways to set up labs, depends on circumstances • May need to use Virtual PC or dual boot or boot loader if want to run other OS e.g. Linux too • Can also use Windows terminal server • Must automatically install Windows patches • A good source of information • MSDNAA IT Solutions http://msdn.microsoft.com/academic/solutions/itsol/ • Also http://www2.msdnaa.net/devsystem/devsystem_2003.aspx (for building a development server) • Generally easy to set up a lab for simple programming, can be tricky for web applications with databases, COM+, servers etc. – ask MS for help

14. 4. People • Tricky… • Ok if small subject and can do everything yourself – lectures, tutorials, grading • If got graduate students undertaking research using .NET → teaching assistants • May need to promote .NET in your department • Can be difficult (but easier in current climate) • Can use .NET to teach standards e.g. web services • Use .NET in a mix, comparative subject • Systems administrators can be very difficult • It can be expensive to get staff up to speed with new technology such as .NET, J2EE etc. • Time investment • I’ve often started subjects then handed them to others

15. Cost effectiveness • New technology subjects are expensive to develop and have limited shelf life  • You can’t learn e.g. ASP.NET overnight (despite what some books might claim) • Conversely traditional and theoretical material doesn’t age quickly • Need to cost new subject and course development • Need lightweight ways to test new subjects • Just in time subject development • A strategy • Keep intro subjects e.g. first year stable ‘traditional material’ • Innovate and invest in final year just before students leave (or go on to research) • Have ‘open subjects’ which can be changed without involving university bureaucracy e.g. “Modern Topics in IT”, change material from year to year • Use new technology to spice up old subjects e.g. computer architecture using video games, PCI-X, Xbox etc • Teaching research nexus – use ideas, techniques, technologies in research and teaching

16. Some QUT Subjects using .NET

17. Some Subjects at QUT which use .NET • Web applications development* • Web Services* • Projects* • Mobile devices* • Programming Principles • Internationalisation • Compiler Construction • Component Technology *Subjects I’ve taught and I’ll discuss today  = Tips, tricks and ideas I think are especially useful

18. Subject: Web Applications Development • Subject about theory and practice of web application development e.g. eStores, web portals, etc. • A capstone elective subject of 3 year Bachelor of IT degree • Run four times since 2002 • Serious programming subject • Uses .NET, in particular ASP.NET

19. Aside: What is ASP.NET? • Framework for generating HTML – presentation tier for 3 tier web applications • (ASP.NET often used to describe whole of .NET web applications) • Very sophisticated framework for web applications Web server Client (web browser) ASP.NET Presentation Business Logic ADO.NET Data Access HTML over HTTP Database

20. Student Learning Objectives • Understand issues of s/w development for web • Different from PC s/w development • Client server • State management • Architecture and design: n-tier architecture, data access • Security, scalability, performance, etc. • Learn about some standard technology e.g. HTTP, HTML, XML, web services •  Gain programming experience with .NET, particularly ASP.NET

21. Subject Structure • 2-3 hour lecture & 1 hour prac X 13 weeks (¼ full time student load × one semester) • Assessment: 35% assignment, 65% exam •  Some guest lectures by Microsoft and their partners • ASP.NET overview and demos • Real world issues - deployment, project management, legacy code, etc. • Prerequisites: intermediate OO programming, basic HTML, SQL

22. Documentation • Lot of professional texts, few academic ones • Visual Studio and SDK– excellent documentation • Walk throughs e.g. Creating a web app • Tutorials e.g. C# Tutorials • Reference e.g. SqlConnection Class • Quickstarts http://www.asp.net/tutorials/quickstart.aspx • Web, particularly for generic technology: HTTP, HTML, XML • MSDN Academic Alliance notes

23. Lectures • Topics: • Web basics, HTTP, HTML, CGI, ActiveX, ASP/JSP (evolutionary perspective) • .NET basics: CLR, C# / VB.NET, VS.NET • ASP.NET • ADO.NET, N-tier architecture • Security • XML, web services • Real world issues: deployment, teamwork, debugging, performance etc. • New developments: P2P, business integration servers (Biztalk), etc. • Most lectures mix of: • Concepts, design, architecture • Standards (e.g. HTTP, XML, web services) • .NET: practice inc. demos •  Also tutorials covering practical aspects of .NET, often using VS.NET walkthroughs Core topics

24. Lab Setup and Software •  Students developed and tested code on individual machines • Run web server and database on each PC •  Labs set up to run a boot loader (Rembo) • Multiple images, can force re-image if necessary • Students have admin permission • Machine configuration • Windows XP Professional • Internet Explorer 6 • Visual Studio.NET Professional 2003 (moving to VS 2005 in 2006) • IIS (optional Windows XP Professional component) • SQL 2000 Server Developer Edition (moving to SQL Server 2005 in 2006)

25. Assignment (Project) • Students work in pairs • Serious programming assignment • Use SQL Server, Visual Studio.NET, ASP.NET, VB.NET/C#, ADO.NET • Demo and present system at end of semester

26. Assignment: Modify an Existing System •  Give an existing system, make modifications • Study a well architected system • Easier marking, less variation • Easier to scope project • Realistic – don’t start from scratch • Students write less code, spend more time understanding existing well designed system • Can constrain system e.g. give them database • Fewer installation issues •  Have server to deploy final system – easier grading (almost xcopy deployment) • Use server virtualisation technology?

27. Example System: gasTix • gasTix example event ticketing system like Ticketek • http://www.informit.com/title/0672322196# • Example system • Best practice • Well architected • Uses C# and VB.NET, database, security, ASP.NET, web services • Comes with all source code • Described in: G. Sullivan, “.NET e-Business Architecture”, SAMS, 2002 (ISBN: 0672322196)

28. Extending gasTix • Gave them a database with some new tables • Force them to use that database, only access via stored procedures! • Additional features • Customer registration • Support different counties • Web services address validator • Assignment required them to understand existing code, but less coding for them to do

29. Example Assignment

30. New Front Page Choose country Login

31. Region Map

32. Region Map

33. Searching For Events

34. Booking

35. Alternatives to gasTix • MS Duwamish books example – well documented, exemplar design • http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnbda/html/bdasampduwam7.asp • New starter kits for portals etc. http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/starterkit/ (often only simple architecture …) • Business case studies http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/info/casestudies/default.aspx

36. Results • Lots of interest from students: 180-230 students each year • Lot of material to cover • Made good use of academic alliance program • Students can work on assignment using own PCs • Couldn’t run the subject without this! • Assignments • Generally very good, extending an existing system works well • Used postgraduate students for staffing tutorials & grading assignments • Prizes for best assignments • Grading very time consuming for start from scratch assignments, modification ones better • Main issue: setting up database / shared machine for marking • Good support from Microsoft • Guest lectures went really well • Better student behaviour and participation than for academics!

37. 2. Subject: Web Services • Why Teach Web Services? • Represent an important evolution in distributed computing • Next generation internet • For all communications interprocess - Internet • Will enable many new and exciting applications • Design principles still being worked out • different from traditional distributed objects • interesting research follow ons • Hot and important topic for industry • Very attractive to students – WS is a hot topic

38. Web Services Subject • Run twice • Masters level •  Covers business and technical aspects of web services • Used multiple platforms inc. .NET, Apache Axis (Java), perl, IBM WebSphere etc. • Cover theory and practice of web services inc. • Service orientation • XML processing • WS standards such as WS Addressing, WS-Security •  Taught jointly by Information Systems (IS) and Computing Science (CS) • Mix of IS and CS students • WS representative of IS CS convergence

39. Content • Business rationale • Service orientation and web service introduction • XML and XML processing: inc Schema, XPath, XSLT, XQuery • Emphasised XML foundations of WS • Low level WS: SOAP, WSDL, UDDI • Inc. implementations: .NET and Java • High level WS protocols including WS Security • BPEL, workflow, choreography • Semantic web • Some guest lectures from industry and researchers at QUT • No textbook, lots of web references

40. Web Services Project • Large assignment/project 40% (60% exam) • Groups of 4/5 • Not designed to be realistic! • Code all pieces: suppliers and consumers • Deliberately use a variety of implementation platforms & techniques •  Use WS-I interop example as a starting point – supply chain management (http://www.ws-i.org/) • Emphasised • Build all WS aspects of a system • Use a variety of implementation platforms, techniques and technologies • Web services • Deemphasised: data storage and GUIs

41. WS Project • Use a mix of implementation technologies • .NET most popular because easiest and most powerful • Also used other MS WS e.g. WSE, Indigo and Java, perl, PHP, … • Equal cover of: • Business rationale • Service orientation, architecture etc. • Implementation •  Run Tomcat and IIS on one machine (different ports) • nice for students, can develop systems on one machine e.g. own PC •  Prototype demo mid-semester • 30 min presentation / demo at the end of semester • Two other check points during the semester – meeting with each group

42. Results • 70+ students – excellent for a postgraduate elective • Web service specifications changed underfoot! • Many technologies immature – bleeding edge teaching! • .NET by far easiest and most comprehensive support for WS • Assignment • Large variation in designs, technologies etc. • Groups a little large • Many groups workflow / choreography was poorly expressed • Some advanced systems using WS Security interop etc. • Groups submitted source but difficult to rerun for further testing •  Asked groups to state any known problems, robustness issues etc. • This plus careful questioning during demo worked well • Technology and specs should start to stabilise next year

43. 3. Subject: Projects •  Projects (u/g & p/g) are a good way to test out technology for teaching or research • I’ve run .NET projects involving: • Web applications development • Programming languages and compilers • Web services and grid computing • Mobile devices

44. 4. Subject: Mobile Devices • Subject on Software Development for Mobile Devices •  Uses .NET Compact Framework •  Builds on success of an u/g mobility project • Also incorporate some wireless networking • Restrict to a small class of 24 students (only got 12 devices!) • Alternative is to use device emulator, much improved in VS 2005

45. .NET Compact Framework • Reduced version of full .NET framework for small devices • Program using C#, VB.NET etc. in Visual Studio •  Great way to develop for smart devices such as: Pocket PCs and MS Smartphones (students love it) • Demo

46. Mobile Devices • Run as a project / reading subject •  100% project assessment, but with structured classes, lectures etc. • Lectures on: • Intro to mobile devices • .NET Compact Framework • User interfaces inc thick and thin clients • Data, communications and synchronization • Advanced topics: security, background processing, native code interop • Guest lecture from MS & local industry • Prototype demo and final presentation •  Tried peer review for final systems – rather variable some students very hard on one another, some too easy

47. One Project:Blood Glucose Monitor • (Diabetic student) • Blood glucose value entry • History charts • Upload data to doctor

48. Research

49. Research using .NET • Many possibilities to use .NET in research • build on it and move up the food chain • no more reinventing the wheel • E.g. research a programming language or debugger whichever interests you but you don’t have to do both • Utilise the extensibility of .NET • You don’t really want the source code • .NET can add impact to your research

50. Research using .NET at QUT • Programming languages • Component Pascal • Ruby.NET • Metaphor: Staged programming language • GPSL: Web service language based on XQuery + join calculus • Distributed computing • G2: Cycle stealing framework • Bio workflow using Biztalk • .NET wiki – collaborative environment • For more details email me or see: http://plas.fit.qut.edu.au