MSc Project Investigation Report

Computer Aided Learning in Elementary Algebra

KALYAN P YALAMANCHILI (0817690)

A report submitted as part of the requirement for the degree of MSc in Computing: Software Technology at the Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland

Contents

1. Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Literature Review 1.3 Aims 1.4 Objectives

1 1 1 2 3

2. Motivation 2.1 Overview 2.2 Features of CAL web site for Teaching and Assessing Elementary Algebra

4 8

3. Requirements 3.1 Functional Requirements 3.2 Non Functional Requirements

12 12 13

4. Technical Analysis 4.1 .NET Technology 4.2 Data base

14 15 18

5. Software Tools

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6. Advantages and Disadvantages of .NET 6.1 Advantages 6.2 Disadvantages

21 21 22

7. Role of Technology 7.1 Conclusion

23 23

References

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CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction

Computer Aided Learning (CAL) has taken the most important role in todays world of education. It has changed the way of education and the way of approach towards education. It has reduced the burden of carrying books by students and in a way reduced the use of paper. CAL provides great help to students, where they can learn almost everything from anywhere by the click of a mouse button. Students can also assess their skills by taking the tests provided. This way CAL is the modern way of education for students.

Mathematics is one of the most important subjects in every students journey. Almost every subject is associated with one or other form of mathematics. CAL in mathematics is a great help to the students to learn maths in a more innovative way. CAL in mathematics can provide a set of tutorials and assessments tests, where a student can go through the tutorials and take assessment tests and evaluate his ability.

1.1 Background

Although mathematics is involved in everyday life, students are afraid of taking mathematics at different levels of educational life. Though they are made to study mathematics, students face problems with algebra, graphs, probability, trigonometry and calculus and may fail in the final examination. Most of the students give up maths at the age of 16 as they feel success in maths comes from the naturally gifted [1]. For these reasons there is need to take mathematics to students in the way they are used to today, i.e. by using computers and the internet to teach and assess them.

1.2 Literature Review

CAL is the way of providing education to students through the internet, with material that would help them learn and be assessed. There is a wide range of web sites that provide CAL in different subjects. Some of the web sites are free for registration and access and some web sites charge for the use of material and access. Each web site providing CAL has a different approach to the way of presenting material. Most of the web sites provide materials which have to be downloaded and opened using Acrobat Reader or MS word. Some provide the materials in a topic wise manner, where a student can go through the topics one by one or jump between topics. The web sites also provide assessment tests for students, where the results are given immediately. Some web sites charge for taking tests and some are free. CAL is available in a wide range of subjects, but especially provided in the field of computing and software languages like java, .NET, C++, etc.

In the field of mathematics, although there are many CAL web sites, only a few come up when delivering the final output to the students i.e. providing material in the web site itself, providing sample tests and amount of the material provided for the users for the benefit of learning from the computers . Many of the web sites deal with different topics in mathematics which provides tutorials as well as assessment tests and some web sites providing material has to be downloaded by the users or presenting the users with an e-book.

1.3 Aims

The proposed CAL website in elementary algebra is mainly developed with the following aims for students and administrator i.e. lecturer

CAL in elementary algebra should provide students the ease of learning mathematics with the use of computer and internet. Students should be provided with set tutorials, where students can go through each tutorial and jump between tutorials. The system should be easy to interact without creating any confusion in students when going through tutorials. The tutorials are provided in a chapter wise manner so that students can learn concepts in step by step manner and should be able to move between tutorials for any reference at any time CAL in elementary algebra also should have assessment tests for students. The assessment tests provided to students should be user friendly; the tests provided should be in competitive way exercising student abilities in algebra by providing questions with multiple choice options to choose the answer. Administrator should be able to update materials, add new students to CAL web site, change tests for students and handle queries from students. The CAL web site should be able to incorporate any number of students.

1.4 Objectives

The main objectives of the CAL web site are as following:

CAL web site should be user friendly for both users i.e. students and administrator. The CAL web site should update every student progress in tutorials and assessment tests to the administrator. The questions provided in the assessment tests should be multiple choice. The administrator should be able to incorporate a minimum of 5 students to the web site. The tutorials provided in the CAL web site should be in progressive order and provide students with ease of learning from the website not creating any confusion when moving through the tutorials.

At the end of each assessment test students should be evaluated and the system should decide whether the student should be allowed to progress to the next assessment test or not. The students should be provided with sample examples at the end of each tutorial for practice. Administrator should be able to view the progress of students in assessment tests and progress in tutorials by students should be notified through email. Students should be able to access CAL web site from anywhere in the world if the students are authorized by the administrator for the use of the web site.

CHAPTER TWO
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2. Motivation

Most of the CAL web sites provide materials as downloadable content, where the user has to download the material and open it using Microsoft Word or Acrobat Reader. This has become a drawback for most CAL web sites, as the user is just downloading an e-book and reading it. The material is not provided in the website itself, and the ones which are providing the materials in section wise manner are very few i.e. providing the users with material in a progressive manner. The web sites that are providing the material in section wise manner have very limited resources and materials. The authentication of the user using the CAL web sites is very limited, and typically involves just creating an account with a user id and password after which the user is allowed to browse through the web site. Most of the websites are open to everyone over the internet. The users are allowed with many options; users can edit the material after downloading destroying the originality of the material and assessment tests provided in the web site are presented with limited questions and do not provide any results at the end of the test which becomes a drawback for the websites. The web sites providing assessment tests in the field of mathematics provide users assessment tests where the computer keyboard plays an important role in giving answers to the questions provided in the test. This is becoming a main drawback in assessment test, as answering involves square roots, powers graphs, algebraic manipulation which makes it difficult for the users to give the answer using the keyboard. Very few questions are provided with multiple choice answers where the mouse could be used to select the appropriate answers for the questions. Avoiding these drawbacks in the CAL web site and developing it would be great help to students.

CAL web sites existing today in the field of mathematics provide students with tutorials as downloadable files or as e-book. This is not very much different for the students who are already learning from text books. Students have to download the e-book or save it to start using it. The tutorials are not provided in the web page itself which makes it easy for the students as they straight away learn or practice from the tutorials which are present in the web site. The screen shot provided below is taken from the web site http://people.brunel.ac.uk/~mastmmg/Downloads/entry.htm[2] which shows the material is provided as downloadable material.

From the screen shot above it can be clearly seen that materials are provided as downloadable files.

The screen shot below is taken from the web site http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/students.php/economics/algebra/completing_squ are/resources/237[3] which shows tutorials are provided as e-book using the acrobat reader.

This is not much different from learning text book which students already using in their class rooms. This can be overcome by providing the entire material in the web page itself, which makes students easy to learn by providing the material in the chapter wise manner where they can jump between chapters by just clicking the mouse button.

CAL web sites also provide assessment tests in which answers for most of the questions are to be given using computer keyboard which makes it difficult for the students when dealing with algebraic expressions, trigonometry, geometry, etc. The screen shot provided below is taken from the web site www.mathcenter.ac.uk[3]

The picture above shows solving the equation where the answer should be given using a keyboard. Though the above question presented is simple, but when coming to complex questions which involve answers involving different terms it makes it difficult for the students. This can be eliminated by providing students with multiple choice questions in which they use mouse for selecting answers. Most of the CAL web sites in the field of mathematics need no authentication from the users; anyone can start using the website right from the start. The assessment tests also require no authentication from the users and the tests provided are also not assessed. Computer aided learning websites in mathematics are mostly like fun time and they are not taking the learning to the students in a serious manner. The following screen shots are taken from http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/[3] and from http://people.brunel.ac.uk/[2]. These screen shots show that the learning from the web site require no authentication and for users taking test just need to download a zip file from the site, unzip it and use the exe file to take the test.

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This screen shot shows that the users require no authentication to use the computer aided learning website. The authentication from users must be provided as there should be specified users to use the system which removes any threat to the material provided in the website and also allows administrator to track the progress of each student.

The screen shot above shows the test to be taken by the user. The test requires no authentication from the user and user can start the test by entering Y in box and pressing submit button. The authentication from the user is required because this helps the administrator to track the progress of the
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student and no authorised access to test will be provided. After entering Y and pressing the submit button, the user will be taken to the test screen where the user has to answer the question and score will be shown immediately to user and proceed answering the questions. These tests will not be evaluated by any lecturer and cannot track the progress. The screen shot below shows the question from the test being taken by the user.

There is a need for a CAL web site only for students registered by the administrator and providing education to students in better manner and also allowing administrator to track each student progress.

2.1 Overview

CAL web site for elementary algebra will be developed for providing students with tutorials in areas such as basic algebraic operations, algebraic expressions, simple linear equations, and quadratic expressions. Assessments tests are also provided for students in these areas and evaluated at end of each test and then decided by the system whether a student should proceed to next assessment test or not. The student should secure 70 percent in each test to proceed to next assessment test. 70 percent was taken as minimum mark for student to achieve because the student is presented with 10 questions per each test involving multiple choice answers and there is no time limit for the test being taken. CAL web site also uses a data base to store the information of students i.e. user ids and passwords and that of administrator as well. The data base is also used for storing materials and assessment tests and also score report of each student in each assessment test for the administrator to track the progress of the students.

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2.2 Features of CAL web site for Teaching and Assessing Elementary Algebra

CAL web site for teaching and assessing elementary algebra should initially present the user with a login page. The user has to enter the login details for logging into the system. There are two types of users for the website: 1. Administrator 2. Students

Administrator Administrator is the main person who controls the entire CAL web site. Administrator (i.e. the lecturer for the subject that CAL web site is being developed) has all the privileges like, adding, removing and updating students, tutorials, assessment tests etc to the website. The responsibilities of the administrator are

Creating login accounts for the students to access CAL web site. The administrator first creates the accounts for the students and provides the access, using which the students can browse through the website. Administrator creates the set tutorials for the students, which the students will be able to access in a chapter wise order like a text book. All the material present in the tutorials can only be changed by administrator. He can also add new tutorials for the existing ones. After each student finishing the tutorials the student will be asked for marking the tutorial as read which will be updated to the administrator which helps the administrator keep track of the student progress in tutorials. Administrator provides students with a set of assessment tests, which involves questions with multiple choice answers. After each test is taken by a student the score will be updated to administrator. Based on the scoring level the administrator should provide access for the next assessment test for the student. This helps the administrator keep track of each and every student in tests and assess their performance.

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Administrator will also provide the students with sample examples. These examples are to be practised by students. Solutions for the examples will be provided in the web site at end of the tutorials. One of the main roles of administrator would be updating the tutorials and changing the assessment tests for the students who are unable to reach the scoring level for proceeding to next assessment test. The administrator will also able to view the progress of each student in tutorials and assessment tests by clicking the students name. All the students registered by the administrator for the subject will be displayed for the administrator login where he or she can track the progress of the student. The administrator will also be interacting with students through e-mail for the queries on the questions in the assessment tests and any general queries would be answered in the website itself. The information provided for general queries by the administrator will be available for all the students of the CAL web site. Only the administrator has privileges for posting answers and deleting any irrelevant questions present in the web site.

Student Student is the user of the CAL web site. After administrator creating account for the students, he/she will be using the login details sent by the administrator through e-mail for logging into the web site and start using the web site. The responsibilities of the student are

Logging into the web site using the account details sent by administrator. After logging into web site for first time the student will be asked to change the password. If the change is made, student has to give the new password from next time when ever he/she is logging into the web site. Student will also be provided with changing password at any point of time by clicking the change password button. The change made to the password will be updated in the database automatically. After logging into the web site, the student can go through the tutorials provided one by one or jump between them. At end of each tutorial the students will be asked for marking the tutorial as read or finished practising, this will be updated to administrator i.e. lecturer, so that the administrator can track the progress of the student. The tutorials provided to students consist of basic operations on algebraic expressions, solution of linear equations and quadratic equations from
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elementary algebra. The tutorials consist of all the material and worked examples for every topic covered in the tutorial. The student will also be provided with a set of assessment tests. The student has to start taking assessment tests from the first one; they will not be permitted next assessment test without securing 70% in the previous assessment test. When the student starts taking the assessment test, they would be prompted with whether he or she is ready for the test because after starting the test the student has to complete the test, if student cancels the test that would be updated to the administrator. If student chooses NO he or she would return to the home screen. The student will be presented with a set of questions where student has to choose the answers from the multiple choices. The student can work out the question on paper and select answer from the options given using mouse. After selecting the answer the student has to confirm the answer by pressing the confirm button. Once the answer is confirmed the student will be presented with next question. Student cannot go back to the previous question once confirming the answer by pressing the confirm button. At the end of the assessment test the student will be prompted with two options, Report Score and Do not Report. If student selects Report Score, the score will be displayed and report of the score is sent to the administrator and he will be allowed to take next assessment test if he or she scores 70% in the test. If the student selects Do not Report option the test would be cancelled and the student has to take the assessment test again.

Students will also be allowed to interact with the administrator through the Queries tab provided. Students can pose questions or queries relating to the subject to the administrator through the query space in Queries tab. The questions can only be answered by administrator and allowed for viewing by all the students registered for the website.

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CHAPTER THREE

3. Requirements

The development of the CAL web site requires various aspects such as designing the web site with the material of elementary algebra, providing assessment tests, updating the tutorials, report of the assessment tests to be stored. All these aspects should be combined with the server side technologies to provide access for many students and at same time to the administrator.

An easy to use user interfaces i.e. the web site for students and backend for the administrator. Updating every students progress in the tutorials and assessment test to the administrator. Calculating the score of each assessment test taken by student and providing access for next assessment test.

3.1 Functional Requirements

Students registered by the administrator should be able to login and logout of the web site and should be able to change password. Unregistered students should be restricted from using the CAL web site.
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Students should be able to view the tutorials, jump between different tutorials and updating progress to the administrator. Questions provided in the assessment tests for the students should be multiple choice. Score should be calculated at the end of each assessment test, based on the score achieved by the student the system should provide access for next assessment test. The score attained by each student in every assessment test should be updated to the administrator. The CAL web site should provide students with space for posting the queries to administrator and intimate students when the query is answered by administrator. Administrator should be able to update the tutorials and change the questions in the assessment tests. CAL web site should provide administrator with viewing each student progress and able to send an email if a student scores below the mark in an assessment test. The CAL web site should send email with the solutions to the assessment test taken by the student.

3.2 Non-Functional Requirements

Usability

The CAL web site should be easy to use to every student with minimum computer knowledge. Student should not be re learning the features of the web site each and every time logging into the web site. Students should be provided with retrieving password if the password is forgotten. The web site should also provide the administrator with ease of updating the tutorials and assessment tests.

Reliability The CAL web site should restrict any unauthorised access of the web site and should be available to the students at all time apart from updating of the web site and notify the students when updating is in progress.
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Performance

CAL web site should return web pages in less than 10seconds and all the data should be loaded irrespective of bandwidth of the internet connection. The web site should be able to access from anywhere and speed of connection should not create any delay.

Scalability

The CAL web site should be able to incorporate any number of students and provide administrator with addition of each student to update details in the data base.

Fault Tolerance

The CAL web site should provide for maximum of error reduction and also provide students with proper error messages when accessing different pages of the web site.

Security

The CAL web site itself does not allow any unauthorized access. Each user of the web site is registered by the administrator and allowed to access the web site. Any person trying to hack the system would be blocked by the server.

CHAPTER FOUR

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4. Technical Analysis

CAL is a web site developed using web programming. Web applications are the ones that use web programming techniques. Client-server architecture is the only model of running web-applications. Clients send requests to the server for a web page from the browser while server receives the clients request and sends response depending on the request of the client in a typical client-server interface. In general, web applications are stored in the server and responds to requests from multiple clients over a network. A web application within client-side is maintained by browser. Every single web application needs a web server and web browser to run. Clients obtain data using web-browser while the data is obtained from a server which is hosted remotely through a network called internet or intranet [4].

CAL web site can be developed using server/client side technologies. This can be achieved through different web programming techniques such as PHP, JSP, .NET technologyetc. We will use .NET technology to develop the CAL website for its robust technology with special features.

4.1

.NET Technology [5, 6, 7]

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.NET means Network Enabled Technologies which is a product from Microsoft Corporation. .NET is a framework which is common architecture for all .NET programming languages. As of now .NET supports 11 programming languages and 1 specification which is ASP.NET. .NET is used for developing windows applications i.e. desktop applications, web applications, mobile applications and gaming applications. The development of these applications is provided by the .NET Framework. .NET Framework consists of the following parts which play main role in every application developed by using .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) Microsoft Intermediate Language Code (MSIL) Frame Class Library (FCL) Just In Time Compilers (JITers) Common Language Specification (CLS) Garbage Collection (GC) ASP.NET

Common Language Runtime (CLR) CLR is one of the most important concept .NET Framework as provides existence and functionality for the framework. CLR is a framework layer that handles the execution of all .NET applications. It is layer above Operating System (OS); all the programs do not directly communicate with OS but go through CLR. .NET Applications Common Language Runtime (CLR) Operating System (OS)

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MSIL (Microsoft Intermediate language) Code

When a .NET program is compiled using any .NET compliant language the source code gets converted to MSIL code but not to executable binary code. MSIL code is then interpreted by CLR. MSIL code is OS and platform independent, upon execution the MSIL code gets converted to executable binary code.

Code in any .NET language

MSIL Code

Compile Time

Run Time
Executable Native Code

Framework Class Library (FCL)

FCL is collection of predefined classes provided for common, usual tasks by .NET Framework. FCL is the largest standard library to be ever provided for any development environment or programming language. The classes can be used to provide access for Windows API and common functions like string manipulation, IO, Threads, Security, Network programming, windows programming, web programming, data structures etc. These classes can applied with inheritance and polymorphism.

Just In Time Compilers (JITers)

JIT compiler is invoked by CLR when MSIL code is to be executed. JIT compiler converts the MSIL code to native executable code. These compilers are different from other compiler in many ways as compile MSIL code to native code only when desired and also uses the same compiled code when needed next time resulting in a robust application.

Common Language Specification (CLS)

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Every .NET language should meet a small set specifications released by Microsoft to qualify as .NET complaint language. It is not necessary for the languages to implement all the functionality of MSIL, as MSIL is very rich language, so the languages have to meet a small subset of CLS to qualify as .NET compliant language. If code written using one .NET language and the code is in the boundary of CLS, that code can be used by any other .NET compliant language.

Garbage Collection (GC)

.NET also provides Garbage Collector which is contained in CLR and runs in a low-priority thread. Garbage Collector checks for any un-referenced, dynamically allocated data in the memory. If it finds any un-used memory or un-referenced memory space, it reclaims the memory and returns it to the OS. This helps any programmer who has to keep track of un-used memory and developing a robust application.

The diagram below depicts .NET framework for better understanding of the framework.

.NET Applications (Win Forms, Web Applications, Web Services) DATA (ADO.NET) and XML Library

Common Language Runtime (CLR) Framework Class Library (FCL) (Debugger, Type Checking, JIT, (IO, Streams, Sockets, Security, exceptions, GC) Reflection, UI)

Windows OS

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ASP.NET

.NET framework also provides one specification i.e. ASP.NET for developing web pages. ASP.NET is a technology with a set of specifications for web based application. ASP.NET supports .NET languages like C#.NET, VB.NET, PERL.NET, J#.NET, etc. which are compiler based languages, and this makes execution faster and provides proper memory management. ASP.NET also supports in process, out process and optimization of session which are very useful when developing websites. ASP.NET comes with built in security in the form of authentication and authorization. ASP.NET supports mobile web application development. .NET framework installation comes with Internet Information Server (IIS) which should be configured to ASP.NET for deploying websites on the server side. IIS is software to manage web pages, which provides security for web pages and supports code execution on server system. Web server accepts HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and provides HTTP response to the browser.

Medium

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4.2 Data base [8, 9]

Data base is other important technology used in building most of the web sites. Data base can be defined as collection of inter-related and integrated data for one or multiple uses. Data bases are used to store different types of data which is managed by software called Data Base Management System for short DBMS. DBMS organizes data in a structured, categorized manner for the use of data by the users. To communicate with the data bases Query Language is provided by DBMS which varies from one DBMS to other. Structured Query Language i.e. SQL is the mostly used language to communicate with the data bases.

.NET also provides ADO.NET (Active X Data Object) which is used to communicate with data base. ADO.NET is a set of predefined classes, which are used to manipulate the data very effectively. ADO.NET provides disconnected architecture which saves valuable and expensive data resources. Like JITers ADO.NET also connects to the data base when needed and fetches the data and dis-connects from the data base, this reduces a lot of burden on the data base when receiving request from different clients.

CHAPTER FIVE

5. Software Tools
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For developing CAL web site some software tools are required. The following software tools will be used:

Internet Information Server (IIS) Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Web Browser

Internet Information Server (IIS) [7]

IIS is web server software which accepts HTTP requests from clients i.e. students using CAL web site on any browser and sends HTTP response to clients using the web site. Web server plays important role in web applications as it should support dynamic and static content of the web page. Static web pages are the web pages that are non interactive and dynamic web pages are interactive in which user can perform some actions on the web page.

For CAL website IIS is used as web server for handling the request and response. IIS is provided by Microsoft Corporation in the operating systems like Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. IIS should be configured to ASP.NET engine for the deployment of the CAL web site on server side.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 [8]

Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 for short VS 2008 is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) provided by Microsoft for developing .NET applications. VS 2008 provides .NET framework and help programmers develop applications using any of the .NET compliant languages. VS 2008 helps programmers by providing intellience, drag and drop of controls for applications, debugging, and error notification. It reduces the work of programmers by providing the code for controls that are used in application. The development of application is made easy for any .NET language through the IDE i.e. when an application
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is created using one .NET language it can be transferred to other .NET language without developing the application again. The features provided by VS 2008 is the reason for developing CAL web site using VS 2008.

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 [9]

Microsoft SQL server 2005 is developed by Microsoft for management of the database. Microsoft SQL server 2005 is used for storing information and retrieving information. There are many vendors that provide different kinds of data base systems like Oracle, MySQL etc. but Microsoft SQL server 2005 is easy to communicate through .NET. It is user friendly and provides efficient and secure data management for the applications developed. Microsoft SQL Server 2005 would be configured by default to VS 2008 which makes it easy when application is communicating with the data base.

Web Browser [7]

Web browser is used by clients for viewing and performing actions on the web page. Web browser carries the request from the clients to the web server and transmits the response from the web server to client. There are many browsers provided by different vendors for accessing web pages, like Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Chrome etc. CAL web site can loaded on any of the web browsers.

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CHAPTER SIX

6. Advantages and Disadvantages of .NET

6.1 Advantages of .NET [6, 7]

.NET is said to be programmers heaven as it provides 11 languages and 1 specification for development of different applications. Before induction of .NET in 1999 most of the programmers used to develop applications using the programming language they are qualified in, but now most of the programming languages are brought under one tree called .NET, programmers can use the language of their interest and develop applications using the library of classes provided under .NET framework. The advantages of .NET are

Using .NET, applications can developed for any platform. This is achieved by CLR which is same for all the platforms. So, .NET is platform independent.

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.NET applications can be developed by using .NET framework compatible languages. Hence, .NET is language independent. .NET achieves language interoperatability i.e. the code produced by using one .NET complaint language can be used by other .NET complaint language. .NET supports Object Oriented Programming Synopsis (OOPs) concepts. OOPs concepts are as follows: 1. Inheritance: The concept of deriving features from one class to another class. 2. Encapsulation: The concept of hiding data 3. Abstraction: Providing full information about an entity is called abstraction 4. Polymorphism: It is the concept of writing more than one function with same and different arguments.

.NET has the largest to be ever shipped with any platform or language, which makes the development of applications easy. Using .NET, applications can be developed for windows, web, and mobile. .NET provides direct security for applications by using the protocols provided for different applications. .NET handles memory management by providing Garbage Collection which takes care of any un-referenced or dynamically allocated memory space. ASP.NET provides the facility for writing the application logic and presentation logic in separate files which makes the maintenance of code easier. .NET provides debugging which makes it easier for tracking errors, exceptions, bugs in the application. .NET applications are developed by using IDE VS2008, which makes the job easier for programmers by providing the controls depending on the application being developed and maintenance of code. .NET also provides the execution of web application on the server through ASP.NET. This makes web pages to executed first on the server and then displayed to clients.
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.NET uses ADO.NET for connecting with the data bases and performing actions on the database based on the level of access to the application. .NET provides user friendly environment for development applications depending on the type of application being developed. of

6.2 Disadvantages [6, 7] .NET is not purely independent because CLR is not developed for DOS and Windows 95 operating systems. CLR varies from one platform to other platform. CLR in not universal like JVM which is same for all the platforms. .NET does not support all the features of OOPs concepts like pointers. .NET is configured mainly to Microsoft SQL server which responds fast but when connecting to other databases .NET engine slows down when compared to Microsoft SQL server.

CHAPTER SEVEN

7. Role of Technology

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CAL website will be developed using ASP.NET as it provides all the features required for web page development. It allows disconnected architecture with database when web pages have retrieve data from data base. This reduces the burden on the web server. ASP.NET is configured to Internet Information Server (IIS) which acts as web server for the website. IIS is used as web server because it has to respond to client requests and performs well when the application is being developed using .NET. CAL web pages are designed using Hyper Text Mark up Language (HTML), this done automatically when using VS 2008 for development of the web site. The controls to be loaded by server side are taken care by IIS, which is configured to ASP.NET.

Microsoft SQL server 2005 acts as database for storing and retrieving the information from the client i.e. web browser. Though many data bases exist in the market Microsoft SQL server 2005 is chosen as it is more compatible with .NET when compared to other and the response time is reduced. VS 2008 is used as IDE for developing the web site as provides more features and supports all the .NET complaint languages making the job easier.

7.1 Conclusion The proposed CAL web site for elementary algebra will be developed for students and lecturer. CAL web site in elementary algebra takes learning to students in a more serious manner than the existing ones. It will provide students with material needed for practice and also provides assessment tests in which each student will be evaluated and progress is monitored by lecturer as student progress. The proposed CAL web site in elementary algebra is open for addition of new features during the development stage as it is developed using .NET technology which provides adding of new features easily.

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References

1. www.independent.co.uk, Friday, September 5, 2008, Education News. 2. http://people.brunel.ac.uk 3. http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/ 4. www.wikipedia.com, client-server architecture. 5. www.wikiepdia.com, .NET

6. Programmers Heaven, C# School by Faraz Rasheed edited by Tore Nestenius, Jonathan Worthington, Lee Addy Wright. 7. Peers Technologies, Hyderabad, India. .NET by Ravi Kumar.
8. www.wikipedia.com, data bases, DBMS. 9. Peers Technologies, Hyderabad, India, Microsoft SQL Server by Venkat.

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