University of Houston

Computer Engineering

Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc

A workstation environment for electrical engineering instruction and research

Through National Science Foundation grant ENG-8851973, John Glover, professor of electrical engineering and director of engineering computing at the University of Houston, is developing a prototype of the "ideal" laboratory environment for computer engineering courses. As part of the project, entitled "A Workstation Environment in a Computer Engineering Laboratory," Glover established a lab of 14 NeXT workstations.

"The primary reason why we purchased NeXT machines," says Glover, "was that for the first time a development environment-NeXTSTEP-allowed engineers to create useful and usable programs. Unlike computer scientists, engineers generally consider themselves part-time programmers: they spend time writing programs only as necessary to facilitate the engineering. NeXTSTEP simplifies program development so faculty and students can develop the educational and research software that is either unavailable or too expensive on the open market."

To help students learn object-oriented programming and the NeXTSTEP development environment, Glover created a series of course notes on object-oriented programming, which include slides that are shown by a NeXT computer using a video projector. In addition, Glover created program demos and a set of lab exercises with solutions to support the notes.

Glover has also implemented Computer Engineering Design, a senior project design course that includes instruction in project planning, management, and implementation. As part of the course requirement, students create either a hardware or software project. Those who choose to design software learn object-oriented programming and then develop courseware for the electrical engineering curriculum.

Student-developed software includes PowerPlus!, a three-phase power system simulator that allows the user to test various wye and delta configurations; Meter, a demonstration of an analog meter-type screen object; and Beam, an application designed by a civil engineer taking the design course that draws shear- and bending-moment diagrams for a loaded beam with three supports.

Graduate students have also written several applications, including Adapt, a program for teaching and research in adaptive signal processing. Adapt lets the user choose various signal inputs and then shows all relevant filter parameters and signals during the adaptation.

Concludes Glover, "We've discovered that only NeXT allows us to do essentially all our tasks in an integrated environment on the same machine-and do them quickly, easily, and elegantly. At the same time, the machine is significantly less expensive than the competitors' machines. Although we will always have a mixed-vendor environment, NeXT computers have the potential of being the principal machines used in the classrooms, labs, and offices."

Glover's course notes, UHOOPclass.tar.Z, are available via anonymous FTP from nova.cc.purdue.edu in /pub/next/docs. They will be updated in summer 1992 for NeXTSTEP Release 3.0.

For more information, please contact:

John Glover
Professor of Electrical Engineering and
Director of Engineering Computing
University of Houston
Houston, TX 77204-4793
(713) 743-4430
glover@uh.edu