1. Tom Whittaker Satellites & Education Conference XXVII Madison, WI USA July, 2014

2. Interactive Applets  Does NOT mean clicking a button to move from static page to static page  Does NOT mean clicking or typing in answers  DOES mean: Students use buttons, sliders, click-and-drag objects, etc. to change things Students can explore ideas, concepts, limits

3. Examples

4. My work with Steve Ackerman  He is a teacher and an advocate  He is a techie-geek kind of person  He likes to try new ideas  He had a need to help students understand concepts in weather

5. What we needed  What software does “every” computer have?  What do we need to do to accomplish “interactivity”  In 1998, what software development environment claimed: Write Once, Run Everywhere

6. The first one: Java  Started small  “Native Widgets” – buttons, sliders, etc  Conceptual hurdle – Object Oriented  Applets run on the browser

7. What went wrong  “Native widgets”  Ever growing and expanding runtime  Some bad publicity about “security issues”  Memory limitations  “Native widgets”

8. So long, Java, it’s been nice knowing ya…  Why? Widgets, widgets, widgets Memory Versions keep changing rules  Who do you turn to in the mid 2000s?  Adobe and ActionScript3 Widgets look and feel the same No memory issues Oops – no multi-threading……..

9. Meanwhile….  Flash runs on 98% of all computers in the world…until…  Apple unleashes the iPad… Students start buying and using them Schools start buying them 8 year olds start buying them Steve Jobs: “No Flash and No Java” “…but we have a solution….”  The HTML5 revolution

10. Just what is “HTML5”?  A stack of technologies: HTML version 5 CSS version 3 JavaScript  Most important for us: the “canvas” element  CSS helps regularize widgets  JavaScript allows “programming”  Very efficient runtime

11. The “only” problem  HTML version 5 is still not approved by the W3C…  …but everyone (even Microsoft) has jumped on the bandwagon  Oh, and these are called “WebApps” now and not “Applets”

12. JavaScript grows up  JavaScript has been around since the mid 1990s  It is not Java, but was influenced by the Java syntax  It was submitted for standardization in 1996 as “ECMAScript” ○ “JavaScript” is now a Trademark of Oracle Corporation  Browser makers did not always agree on function names, use, etc.

13. Why use it now?  Quite standardized  Not “owned” by anyone  Lots of support libraries  Easy development  Runtime engines are very fast (compile to native code)  Might be around for a few years

14. What are the issues?  A few cross-platform issues Testing on PC/Mac browser vs. Testing on Tablets vs. Testing on phones  HTML5 requires latest browsers  No standards for “touch” devices – but most browsers now use Apple’s approach

15. Where to get them…  Just “google” for: wxwise  Then click on the HTML5 link  …or…