EA2C2
Given the nature of the project, it is necesary to consider the work from different perspectives: firstly, in terms of the forms of learning, and the way in which the system is going to model and implement them. Secondly, as far as the development of educative software components and their integration in final applications are concerned, even though they are prototypes, they have to offer robustness and efficiency.
An n-tier architecture will be developed using Java and XML technology, the structure of which will be very similar to that presented in figure 2 (although the acronyms related to Java are well kn
own generally, in case some of them that appear in the figure are not well-known, it is possible to find their definition and description in the Javasoft Web Pages (www.javasoft.com). The architectures client-servant (denominated as a '2-tier' architectures) have shown to be limited as system distributed on the network for many reasons (although they are still popular because they are quite easy to develop) including the fact that they are usually very difficult to update and to extend due to the dependency of propietary protocols (typically related to the access to the data bases) and the mixture of the presentation logic of data and application. The presented/displayed solution is an architecture of n-levels where there are a client and several servants (connected among them), but the problem in these cases is the underlying technology and the connection of the distributed components in the servers. The mixture of Java and XML technologies offers many possibilities for the preparation of n-tier architectures. Java is a programming language and powerful operating environment, oriented to the network and able to run on any computer platform where there is an installed Java virtual machine. It is a tool for which there are very many API and systems available that can serve as candidates for their incorporation in this architecture. XML offers a portable way to represent information between systems, where due to the rules on its structure, it can be validated and easily turned into other formats.
As far as the management and control of the project is concerned:
- A web site will be created for the project with a zone of restricted access for the members of the project, where all the resources and software of general use for the different contemplated tasks will be located. The person in charge of each task will be in charge of which each piece of software is available.
- On the web site an updated version of the work plan, together with information on the state of each task and the interrelations among them will be available.
- Periodic seminars involving all the project participants will be given, in which organizational aspects of the project will also be discussed.
Reference: TIC2001-0007.
Founded by: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología.
Participants: M. Felisa Verdejo, Beatriz Barros, José Ignacio Mayorga, Miguel Rodríguez Artacho, Tim Read, Carlos Vicente Álvarez, M. Yolanda Calero, Rosa Gómez Antón, Javier Vélez Reyes, Ignacio Cardenas.
Coordinator: M. Felisa Verdejo.