Last updated: 25 May 2004

Overview

The General Development Labs address the needs of:

• students to use software that complements their course topic or supports other academic interests

• instructors to demonstrate the use of software

• mentors to assist fellow students in their academic studies

• development staff to encourage and promote potential students to pursue studies in Institute programs or related areas

Lab Administration

Institute lab staff, under faculty advisement concerning academic needs, are responsible for equipping, securing, configuring and maintaining these labs and the infrastructure supporting them.

• Rooms

  Rooms can be reserved by faculty and staff for special purposes, such as exams, special presentations, computer camps, and monitored programming labs.

  The layout of desks in some rooms are re-configurable, if there is a need.

• Workstation computers

  Our goal is fast, capable computers with ample ports for external peripherals, network connectivity, large-screen monitors, high-capacity removable media support, and a re-imageable local hard disk.

  The computer workstations in these labs are designed to be uniform in functionality. Uniformity allows a student to choose any available seat to, for example, design, code, and test programs and databases, and/or create documents and spreadsheets.

• Network

  The network provides connectivity to Institute servers, including login and file storage servers, as well as to other computers worldwide via the Internet.

• Software

  The workstations support the core curriculum and some of the coursework of the electives; consequently, they have many software applications installed that are of broad applicability.

  Software such as the operating system, web browsers, secure file transfer, and office-type software (e.g., word-processing and spreadsheet) form the base level. On top of this is software that is related to coursework or has great utility in doing coursework, such as compilers, editors, remote access mechanisms, graphics programs, math programs, and database access clients. None of this software is designed to be changed by the user, and some of the software has restrictions on its use.

  Course-related software is generally recommended by the faculty. All software is licensed, installed, configured and maintained by Institute lab staff.

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