WIMS technical documentation

Comparison with other approaches

Advantage of WIMS versus locally installed softwares

1. No need of software installation and/or update by users.

   All installation and/or update of background software is done on the server side, which can be anywhere on the internet. On the client machine, only a common web browser is required (which needs not to be very up to date).

2. No need to learn the usage and the syntax of a particular software package.

   As WIMS uses the html standard for user interface, a user, in particular a student, has only to use his usual knowledge of html browsing (which is now a common knowledge), in order to work on WIMS applications.
   This is not the case for any of current mathematics softwares; all of them require a training period before the user can work on it. This training period may be more or less lengthy, but we remark that the knowledge of using a particular software is not a universal knowledge, and such a knowledge usually has a short lifespan. Moreover, teaching knowledge about a commercial software contradicts with the principle of commercial neutrality of a public education institution.

3. It provides a means to collect the knowledge and experience of the whole educational community.

   WIMS is a modular system, where each application is a separated module whose links with other modules are done in the usual html way. This allows modules to be developped independently and remotely. It is our hope that as many educators as possible will add their knowledge and experience to the system by contributions in the form of new modules or improvements of existing ones.

4. It allows student - teacher interactions in several ways.

   Organized under the structure of classes, a WIMS system allows teacher to assign works for his students, and get reliable informations about the progress (and/or difficulty) of the student in real time. This may allow the teacher to give more personalised guide to the student. The big advantage of such a system based on internet is that there is no site restriction: any work done from any site (local or remote) is valid, and is taken into account.

5. It provides a dynamic interaction between different components, e.g. between exercises and computing tools.

   For example, practically no software dedicated to exercises can interface a computational tool as easily as WIMS does.

6. It can be more powerful than any given software for certain works.

   Because WIMS can use different (dedicated) software as backend engine, even several softwares for one application or one request.

Disadvantage of WIMS versus locally installed softwares

1. Low speed of reaction.

   Because usually every WIMS response has to travel through internet. This will improve when internet speed improves.

2. Limited computational power and programming capability.

   If a user has a heavy computational job and/or has to design a complicated script to get his job done, he should work directly on the appropriate software. It is not at all the intention of WIMS to interface such activities.

3. Limited capability of the graphical interface.

   The html graphical user interface is not very suited for interactive works.

Advantage of WIMS versus hand calculators

1. Easier to use.

   A html page used by WIMS for user interface is much more comprehensible than any hand calculator.

2. (Much) more powerful.

Disadvantage of WIMS versus hand calculators

1. Non-portability.

   WIMS is accessible only to computers connected to internet.

Advantage of WIMS versus interactive web applications based only on java or javascript

1. More powerful and more versatile.

   As WIMS can embed java or javascript programs in its applications, a wisely designed WIMS application just extends the capability of java or javascript.
   And WIMS can really do more: even if it is theoretically possible to develop java applications which has the same power as a software used as a backend engine for WIMS, it would take too much effort to develop (is it reasonable to re-write TeX in java?), and would be so big that it would take forever for an http query to load.

2. Easier to develop.

   Because WIMS language is first based on html (easy to learn), with an extension specifically designed for this purpose.

3. Allows student-supervisor interaction.

   The design of server-based interactivity for users allows the back-end communication with supervisors, and much more (performance analysis, automatic intervention from supervisors, etc).

Disadvantage of WIMS versus interactive web applications based on java or javascript

1. Lower speed of reaction.

   Because usually every WIMS response has to travel through internet. This will improve when internet speed improves. One can also use embedded javascript or java in a WIMS application, in places where response speed is important.