Earlham College Computer Science Department Pedagogical Tools Group

About the Group

  The Pedagogical Tools Group's primary responsibilities are the development
and maintenance of the programming tools, software libraries, and other
software systems the department uses in teaching programming and other aspects
of Computer Science.  In addition, they provide assistance in developing Lab
exercises, examples and assignments for these classes.  This will involve
working closely with, at least, the faculty teaching CS128 and CS256, the CS
lab system administrators, and the Earlham Computing Services lab
administrators. 

Job Description

The department is currently looking for one or two students to participate as
interns with the group during the Spring 2002 to Spring 2003 period.

Basic responsibilities include:
o  Attend weekly planning and review meetings (about 1-2 hours/week).
o  Develop and maintain C++ and java libraries supporting CS programming
   projects. 
o  Obtain, install and maintain support tools like debuggers, IDEs, graphics
   servers, etc.
o  Work effectively within a team framework.
o  Track your time, the progress of your various projects, etc.
o  Commit a total of 10 hours/week.

This position calls for considerable programming skills in C++ and, potentially
java, as well as experience with unix, MSWindows and Mac environments.
Participants will be working closely with the CS faculty to obtain, customize,
and maintain development tools and support libraries in an environment with Mac
and MsWindows workstations and Linux servers.  This is likely to include
porting of packages between systems.

It is not expected that participants will have the full suite of skills
necessary to carry out all aspects of these duties when they start the
program.  Part of the goal is to provide an opportunity to learn these skills
in a real-world context.  You are expected to be committed to picking up the
skills that you need.  Since there is so much of an investment by you and the
rest of the group in terms of training, etc., we ask that you commit to the
group for a minimum of one year.  The wage is hourly at the College's student
rate. 

  Prerequisites for applying for a position:
    o Programming and Problem Solving (or the equivalent experience)
    o Advanced Programming 
    o PoCo
    o Experience with C++.
    o Experience with unix.
    o Experience with gcc/g++.
    o Experience with gdb.
    o Good organizational skills, the ability to follow-through on commitments
      and meet deadlines.
    o Trustworthiness.

  Desirable, but not necessary, technical skills:
    o Operating Systems.
    o Experience with java.
    o Experience with MSWindows and MacOS.
    o Experience with X Windows programming
    o Experience with the MSWindows and MacOS APIs.