Automatic Generation of Simulation-Based Web Courses and Model Documentation

摘要

This paper presents the procedures and tools that we are using to generate fully automatic multimedia Web courses based on simulations. These courses are composed of HTML pages with interactive simulations that help the students understand the subject of the course. This is accomplished by means of an object-oriented simulation language (OOCSMP) that allows us to include information about the appearance of the HTML page where the simulation model is going to be included. The language incorporates constructions to synchronize multimedia elements with the simulation execution, and to produce distributed simulations. The compiler for this language (C-OOL) generates Java applets for the simulation problem, and can generate automatically the documentation for the models, in the form of HTML pages, using information in the symbol table and special comments included in the model. One example of the construction of a multimedia simulation page with the simulation of an ecosystem is presented, and its extension to a distributed simulation environment is explained.