Interactive computing in a project-oriented file organization course

Abstract

In the decade since Curriculum '68 [1], the suggested structure of courses related to data management has evolved, as evidenced by the report of the ACM committee on curriculum in 1977 [2] and also noted by Dale [3]. A course in Curriculum '68 entitled “Information Organization and Retrieval” [IOR] does not appear in the 1977 report, while a new course in "File Processing [FP] is included. Influenced by Curriculum '68, N.C. State in 1970 instituted a senior-level course entitled “Information Retrieval” to correspond essentially to the IOR course. Over the years that course in information retrieval has changed gradually, as material related to document retrieval has been supplanted by material related to file organization. Although the title has remained constant, the content is now more similar to FP than IOR. This paper describes the current project-oriented course in information retrieval which stresses the importance of query languages in an information retrieval system. In addition, the paper highlights the use and impact of interactive computing, the choice of a project implementation language, and the relationship of the course to an individual's transition from student to professional. The paper concludes with a comparison of project grade and the associated computer development time.