USING AN OPEN -SOURCE LANGUAGE TO TEACH INTRODUCTORY PROGRAMMING AND GRAPHICS CONCEPTS IN FIRST -YEAR ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY COURSES ——————————————————————————————————————————————-————
Magesh Chandramouli, Ge Jin, Patrick E. Connolly · 2012
In this paper, the authors propose the use of an open- source programming environment called Processing © in first -year undergraduate engineering and technology education courses. Currently, there is significant use of proprietary commercial software in technology education. The use of such tools for teaching introductory graphics principles to students has resulted in a heavy dependence on commercial software, which in turn has financial implications for the educational institution. On the other hand, open-source pro- gramming languages (PL) reduce the financial burden for both institutions and students. Processing © is an open- source PL that can be used to teach basic programming and graphics concepts to first-year engineering/technology stu- dents. The syntax of Processing © is relatively straightfor- ward. Students can develop intermediate-level graphic ap- plications in a relatively shorter time period with less com- plexity. Also, Processing © can serve as a bridge to facilitate the subsequent transition to more advanced Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) languages like Java and C-Sharp as Processing © itself is built on OO principles. In this paper, the authors explain how to use Processing © to design and implement freshman-level graphics courses in the disci- plines of engineering and technology. The results presented show that students are receptive to the idea of learning the concepts of computer graphics using a programming medi- um. Overall, the results evince that the visual- and graphics- based lecture samples and lab exercises helped students learn complex concepts.