Transforming introductory computer science projects via real-time web data

Abstract

While computing is becoming increasingly distributed, programming projects in introductory classes remain mostly divorced from the student's day-to-day computing experiences. These experiences entail interacting with real-time Web-based data from sources that include weather reports, news updates, and restaurant recommendations. The disconnect between student experiences and the content of their programming projects is known to drive some students away from computing. In addition, to adequately prepare students for the realities of modern software engineering, educators should introduce issues pertaining to distributed computing early in the curriculum. To address these problems, we have created RealTimeWeb - an architectural framework that makes real-time web data accessible for introductory programming projects. The framework effectively introduces important real-time distributed computing concepts without overwhelming students with the low-level details that working with such data typically requires. Preliminary results indicate that our approach can be effective in the context of a typical CS2 course, and that real-time data is relevant to students. RealTimeWeb libraries and associated resources are publicly available for use, with multiple language bindings to many real-time data sources. A rapid-prototyping tool available through the project's website facilitates the development of client libraries with easily accessible APIs for new real-time Web-based data sources.