While chatbots like ChatGPT are truly ground-breaking, they have limitations. In fact, there are many cases in which chatbots simply cannot return an answer due to the limitations of the LLM structure and dataset. Experts quickly find the limitations of chatbots, but novices to a topic are very likely to get tripped up by the […]
I'm working on question sets for introductory programming classes in languages like Java, C and Matlab, with a possibility of extending into other commonly-used languages (in our department) like Python and Verilog. The idea is that these questions could be deployed into a protected lab test or an open in-class "flipped homework" environment. Key to […]
This is the fifth in the series of postings on automated grading in C. Here, I've modified the VPL exercise to include four possible flowcharts that the students can implement, but the particular flowchart now get assigned to the student based on the time of day. The VPL output (both "run" and "evaluate" looks like […]
In this fourth post, I'm going to modify the way the unit tests in C get picked up by the VPL "run" and "evaluate" scripts so that rather than look for a particular phrase returned by the unit test (something like "The unit test expected to see 5 but the student's function returned 1"), it's […]
This is the third post in the series on evaluating student assignments in VPL with C and unit testing. We're targeting using VPL on Moodle / eClass. Specifically, the bash scripts are based on the fantastic work of Smith College professor emeritus, Dr. Dominique Thiébaut. He wrote about his VPL work here and while his […]
Here's a simple VPL exercise that can grade a simple student-submitted function. The idea is that there are two bash scripts, one for rough work and one for graded evaluation and these scripts will compile the C program, consisting of a main function that calls the student function, passing two integers to it and having […]
As with the Matlab and Java versions of this, I'm working on creating a set of C language exercises that can be assigned to students in an automated way, like on eClass (Moodle) using Virtual Programming Lab or the "lab test mode" that we use in the EECS department at York University. Here, I'm focusing […]
In the previous post I showed you how to use VPL and simAVR together to write a basic activity that would test to see if a student could change or assign the value of a register in the simulated microcontroller using the C programming language. While it was the most straight-forward way that I could […]
In Computer Architecture classes or Embedded Systems classes, it can be really useful to allow for students to be graded on assignments that allow them to interactively explore the inner workings of a microprocessor. One way is to have the students create programs in a hardware description language like Verilog or VHDL. Another way is […]
EECS 2021 Lab Kit The EECS 2021 lab requires you to have both (1) the Grove board with an ATMEGA328P chip on it (you got it as a part of the EECS 1011/21 lab kit last year), as well as (2) a Snap programmer. The Grove kit (officially called the "Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino") […]