Project Abstract

This dissertation project aims to develop a Learning suite for developing verified critical systems using the programming language SPARK Ada. Developed in 2014, SPARK Ada is a highly complex language featuring robust code and a formal verification tool subset. This allows the language to write programs that can be used for high-integrity systems such as transport and space exploration. Despite this, there are still very few accessible tools for teaching the language. To solve this the project creates a website that can be accessed via the internet over a range of different devices and browsers. It does this using HTML 5 boilerplate as the main template for the site and a variety of lessons that will teach the basics of SPARK Ada. This allows users to learn the language on the go and to join back into lessons at their leisure. The site features numerous tasks and challenges that the users can access and complete in their own time to help solidify their understanding. The project found that while it was easy to get users to understand the basics and to get them started, it was also difficult to keep users engaged as well as to incentivise them to keep to good programming practices. The completion of this project has helped to develop an understanding of online teaching and the difficulty therein in making sure that coding standards and practices are kept to a high standard.

Keywords: Online Teaching, Safety Critical Systems, Web Applications

 Conference Details

Session: Poster Session A at Poster Stand 131

Location: Sir Stanley Clarke Auditorium at Tuesday 7th 13:30 – 17:00

Markers: Anton Setzer, Julian Hough

Course: BSc Computer Science, 3rd Year

Future Plans: I have a job lined-up