Projects

The main objective of the project is to train educators from selected universities (e.g. partners are training other partners in this project) in the field of functional programming (FP) and closely related areas of informatics that this trained university staff then will contribute to the increasing of the level of education at their home university. Partners train other partners in selected area of FP by sharing their research results and using their (specific) teaching experience and methods. We expect novel knowledge to be taught in all theoretical levels.

Nature-inspired search and optimisation heuristics are easy to implement and apply to new problems. However, in order to achieve good performance it is usually necessary to adjust them to the problem at hand. Theoretical foundations for the understanding of such approaches have been built very successfully in the past 20 years but there is a huge disconnect between the theoretical basis and practical applications. The development of powerful analytical tools, significant insights in general limitations of different types of nature-inspired optimisation methods and the development of more practically relevant perspectives for theoretical analysis have brought impressive advances to the theory-side of the field. However, so far impact on the application-side has been limited and few people in the diverse potential application areas have benefitted from these advances.

The main objective of the COST Action is to bridge this gap and improve the applicability of all kinds of nature-inspired optimisation methods. It aims at making theoretical insights more accessible and practical by creating a platform where theoreticians and practitioners can meet and exchange insights, ideas and needs; by developing robust guidelines and practical support for application development based on theoretical insights; by developing theoretical frameworks driven by actual needs arising from practical applications; by training Early Career Investigators in a theory of nature-inspired optimisation methods that clearly aims at practical applications; by broadening participation in the ongoing research of how to develop and apply robust nature-inspired optimisation methods in different application areas.

KEGA č. 050TUKE-4/2013

The strategic objective of the project is to search for new methods, forms and technologies enabling integration of teaching of software engineering processes into the programming courses at universities in computer science and information technology curricula. Currently, in the information technology courses, teaching of programming is often separated from the procedural aspect of software development. However, in practice, when developing software systems the technologies, principles and processes are inseparable and they are applied systematically throughout the whole software development process. Based on the current state of teaching at universities, in this project we will systematically focus on exploring new methods and forms of teaching software development courses, which would allow teaching of programming, technologies and processes of software development as a single harmonious unit. Building on the previous statements, we propose that the innovation of content of many software development courses is equally important as the creation of tool support that relieves teachers from uncreative and time-consuming tasks. To support programming teaching methods in the area of designing and developing tools, we will focus on the issue of simulation of software engineering process during student’s development of a software product. In the project solution, the simulation will represent members of the project team, including project manager, who will monitor and supervise the completion of tasks and procedures in the context of the defined process. The tool support will enable automation of providing immediate feedback for students, thus providing the teacher more time for individual approach to the student.