Daniela Micucci

In this article we're going to describe a tool that we've created to help OO newcomers understand the class/instance relationship, inheritance between classes and linking between objects...by automatically converting an object graph into HTML. The tool we've created is based on the "circlegram" idea used by almost every object-oriented teacher during conventional "chalk and blackboard" lessons. Our work at the computer science department of Milano-Bicocca University in Italy is a mix of software design, programming and teaching. We use Unified Modeling Language (UML) for design, Java for programming and blackboards for teaching. When we teach, we also sometimes use overheads/slides. "So what?" you may say, "every teacher in the world does the same...." Right, but we have an added problem: we have to teach Java and general OO (object-oriented) concepts to students at... (more)