<h3>Advantage of wims versus locally installed softwares</h3>
<ol>
$tit No need of software installation and/or update by users.$titend
All installation and/or update of background software is done on the
server side, which can be anywhere on the internet. On the client
machine, only a common web browser is required (which needs not to be
</li>
$tit No need to learn the usage and the syntax of a particular software package.$titend
As wims uses the html standard for user interface, a user, in particular
a student, has only to use his usual knowledge of html browsing (which
is now a common knowledge), in order to work on wims applications. <br>
This is not the
case for any of
current mathematics softwares
; all of
them require a training period before the user can work on it. This
training period may be more or less lengthy, but we remark that the
knowledge of using a particular software is not a universal knowledge,
and such a knowledge usually has a short lifespan.
Moreover, teaching knowledge about a commercial software contradicts
with the principle of commercial neutrality of a public education
institution.
</li>
$tit It provides a means to collect the knowledge and experience
of the whole educational community.$titend
Wims is a modular
system, where
each application is a separated module
whose links with other modules are done in the usual html way.
This allows modules
to be developped independently and remotely. It is our hope that as many
educators as possible will add their knowledge and experience to the
system by contributions in the form of
new modules or improvements of
existing ones.
</li>
$tit It allows student - teacher interactions in several ways.$titend
Organized under the structure of
$(ref1)class$(ref2)class">classes</a>,
a wims system allows teacher
to assign works for his students, and get reliable informations about
the progress (and/or difficulty) of the student in real time. This may
allow the teacher to give more personalised guide to the student.
The big advantage of such a system based on internet is that there is
no site restriction: any work done from any site (local or remote) is
valid, and is taken into account.
</li>
$tit It provides a dynamic interaction between different components, e.g.
between exercises and computing tools.$titend
For example, practically no software dedicated to exercises can
interface a computational tool as easily as wims does.
</li>
$tit It can be more powerful than any given software for certain works.$titend
Because wims can use different (dedicated) software as backend engine,
even several softwares for one application or one request.
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Disadvantage of wims versus locally installed softwares</h3>
<ol>
$tit Low speed of reaction.$titend
Because usually every wims response has to travel through internet.
This will improve when internet speed improves.
</li>
$tit Limited computational power and programming capability.$titend
If a user has a heavy computational job and/or has to design a complicated
script to get his job done, he should work directly on the appropriate
software. It is not at all the intention of wims to interface such
activities.
</li>
$tit Limited capability of the graphical interface.$titend
The html graphical user interface is not very suited for interactive
works.
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Advantage of wims versus hand calculators</h3>
<ol>
$tit Easier to use.$titend
A html page used by wims for user interface is much more comprehensible
than any hand calculator.
</li>
$tit (Much) more powerful. $titend
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Disadvantage of wims versus hand calculators</h3>
<ol>
$tit Non-portability.$titend
Wims is accessible only to computers connected to internet.
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Advantage of wims versus interactive web applications based
only on java or javascript</h3>
<ol>
$tit More powerful and more versatile.$titend
As wims can embed java or javascript programs in its applications, a
wisely designed wims application just extends the capability of java or
javascript. <br>
And wims can really do more:
even if it is theoretically possible to develop java applications which
has the same power as a software used as a backend engine for wims, it
would take too much effort to develop (is it reasonable to re-write TeX
in java?), and would be so big that it would take forever for an http
query to load.
</li>
$tit Easier to develop.$titend
Because wims language is first based on html (easy to learn), with an
extension specifically designed for this purpose.
</li>
$tit Allows student-supervisor interaction.$titend
The design of server-based interactivity for users allows the back-end
communication with supervisors, and much more (performance analysis,
automatic intervention from supervisors, etc).
</li>
</ol>
<h3>Disadvantage of wims versus interactive web applications based
on java or javascript</h3>
<ol>
$tit Lower speed of reaction.$titend
Because usually every wims response has to travel through internet.
This will improve when internet speed improves. One can also use
embedded javascript or java in a wims application, in places where
response speed is important.
</li>
</ol>