Use of these pages


Techie stuff

These pages were written by two grad students in computer science for two reasons, 1) in an effort to improve the rate of learning in the Computer Science 1001 class "Introduction to Computers" and 2) As part of a contest sponsored by the Digital Media Center here at the University of Minnesota.

These pages are written in HTML (hypertext markup language) and look best using a browser capable of HTML3.0 (the level that allows frames to appear). There was a concern for people who did not have this level of HTML, so some non-framed pages were also created.

To take full advantage of existing technology, we encorporated into these pages both use of the Java language, and also CGI using Perl. These were used to allow interactivity with our pages (such as taking tests, and getting grades) and also in making cool animations, and the like. For those without javascript capable browsers, the tests cannot be taken. This is unfortunate.


Stuff for everyone

If you find the content or layout of these pages to be helpful, please feel free to use the source code. The only thing we ask is that you include our names as the authors of the information. Short of that, virtually everything here is public domain. Most of the generic graphics used here were taken from public domain sites, and can be used.

Be careful setting links in your pages to these pages for two reasons. 1) It's hard to set information to an appropriate FRAME. Check the source code to make sure you set it right. 2) I don't know how long the University will let these pages sit here. So, be sure to check your links to make sure they haven't vanished.

Finally. Yes, a lot of the things we've included in here are "new", "hard to do", or "really cool". But, it's hard to answer all of the e-mails that we get. So, we ask this of you, the readers; if you want to know how something is done on a page, please don't ask unless you already understand programming in HTML, and have looked at the source code. If you want to know how the grading program or tests work, we won't be able to answer unless you understand the basics of CGI programming. Also, we can't tell you how to do animations until you understand the basics of JAVA. Hopefully this doesn't sound rude, we are glad to answer any questions, but aren't able to run cyber-tutorial sessions.

So, with all that said. Please feel free to mail us questions, comments, suggestions, and most importantly JOB OFFERS for designing similar types of pages. We'll try to answer as soon as we are able.

Our personal information is included below.
Brent DahlenDave Doyle
dahlen@cs.umn.edu ddoyle@davedoyle.com
http://www.cs.umn.edu/~dahlen http://www.DaveDoyle.com
Thank you for your support!

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