TITLE: Converting Lecture Notes into an Active Website
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: November 28, 2012  6:34 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<EM>... in which the author seeks pointers to interactive
Scheme materials on-line</EM>.

Last summer, I fiddled around a bit with
<A HREF="http://docs.racket-lang.org/scribble/">
   Scribble</A>,
a program for writing documentation in (and for) Racket.  I
considered using it to write the lecture notes and website for
my fall OOP course, but for a variety of reasons set it aside.

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In the spring I'll be teaching Programming Languages again,
and using Racket with my students.  This seems like the perfect
time to dive in and use Scribble and
<A HREF="http://docs.racket-lang.org/slideshow/">
   Slideshow</A>
to create all my course materials.  This will create a synergy
between what I do in class and how I prep, which will be good
for me.  Using Racket tools will also set a good example for
my students.

After seeing
<A HREF="http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Racket">
   The Racket Way</A>,
Matthew Flatt's talk
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2012-09.html#e2012-09-29T16_04_35.htm">
   at StrangeLoop</A>,
I am inspired to do more than simply use Racket tools to create
text and slides and web pages.  I'd like to re-immerse myself
in a world where everything is a program, or nearly so.  This
would set an even more important example for my students, and
perhaps help them to see more clearly that they don't ever to
settle for the programs, the tools, or the languages that
people give them.  That is the Computer Science way as well as
the Racket way.

I've also been inspired recently by the idea of an interactive
textbook
<A HREF="http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/">
   a l&aacute; Miller and Ranum</A>.
I have a pretty good set of lecture notes for Programming
Languages, but the class website should be more than a
21st-century rendition of a 19th-century presentation.  I think
that using Scribble and Slideshow are a step in the right
direction.

So, a request:  I am looking for examples of people using the
Racket presentation tools to create web pages that have embedded
Scheme REPLs, perhaps even a code stepper of the sort Miller and
Ranum use for Python.  Any pointers you might have
<A HREF="mailto:wallingf@cs.uni.edu">
   are welcome</A>.
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