REDMOND, Wash., July 10, 2003 — As part of its commitment to academic computer science programs, Microsoft Corp. today announced the delivery of new resources designed to help students and teachers use Visual Studio® .NET 2003. Among the enhancements is the Microsoft® Supplemental User Interface (UI) Library for Visual J#®
.NET, which provides much of the functionality described in the Java 2 JFC Swing specification and enables teachers to use existing Swing-based curricula and textbook examples with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the Microsoft .NET Framework. Teachers who have existing Swing-based source code now can adopt Visual J# .NET with few or no changes required of the source code.
Microsoft also recently released the Microsoft MBS Case Study for Visual J# .NET, a sample application used by the AP Computer Science program in high schools to teach students object-oriented programming techniques. The MBS Case Study makes programming fun and interesting for students by encouraging them to build
“fish classes”
that are then applied to an aquarium simulation. Visual J# .NET provides full support for the Java-language syntax and Java Development Kit functionality required to teach the AP Computer Science course, which is representative of a college-level introductory computer science class.
“These releases underscore Microsoft’s commitment to helping students and teachers use their existing Java-language curriculum with industry-leading development tools such as Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Framework,”
said Morris Sim, director of the Academic Developer Group in the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft.
Microsoft listened carefully to the academic community’s ideas on how to make Visual J# .NET the optimal tool for enabling teachers and students who use the Java language to target the .NET Framework. The Supplemental UI Library is a direct result of feedback from teachers; it is designed to ensure that Visual Studio .NET 2003 meets the needs of academia by providing a comprehensive development tool for teaching and learning programming skills.
“We liked what we saw in Visual J# .NET, but one critical piece Microsoft needed was support for Swing curricula already in practice today,”
said Brian Scarbeau, AP Computer Science teacher at Lake Highland Preparatory School in Orlando, Fla.
“They took that feedback to heart and made Visual J# .NET an appealing tool to use in the classroom.”
The MBS Case Study is available as a free download from the Visual J# .NET Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vjsharp/mbs/ . The Supplemental UI Library is also available as a free download from the Visual J# .NET Web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vjsharp/supui/ (connect-time fees may apply).
Microsoft is committed to fostering innovation by investing in a global alliance with academia through programs such as the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN®
) Academic Alliance program, which provides access to virtually all current Microsoft developer tools and enterprise products and is accessible to more than 3 million students and faculty members worldwide. Microsoft also is committed to making Visual Studio .NET more accessible to academia through future extensions, teaching and learning aids. Other recent investments include these:
-
The Teaching Potential Summer Programming Workshop, a free four-day workshop for teachers nationwide to learn new concepts and insights that enable them to expand, enhance and enrich programming classes
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“CodeNotes for J#,”
a classroom set of books and lab guide supplements intended to help teachers and students become better acquainted with Visual J# .NET and the variety of .NET-connected applications that can be created with the tool
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
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