During a course on computer architecture, assembler, C programming, network and communication, 57 out of 300 students were followed closely by questionnaires and tests in order to evaluate their learning of computer architecture. The results indicate both that the students' understanding of logic gates and Boolean algebra is poorer than preferred, and that the students also have difficulties grasping the implementation of higher level constructs in low level architecture features. Better results might have been achieved if the teaching of architecture was closely linked to the students' previous training in programming.

Part decomposition and conversely, the construction of composite objects from individual parts have long been recognized as ubiquitous and essential mechanisms involving abstraction. This applies, in particular, in areas such as CAD, manufacturing, software development and computer graphics. Although the part-of relationship is distinguished in object oriented modeling techniques, it ranks far behind the concept of generalization/specialization and a rigorous definition of its semantics is still missing. We first show in which ways a shift in emphasis on the part-of relationship leads to analysis and design models that are easier to understand and to maintain. We then investigate the properties of part-of relationships in order to define their semantics. This is achieved by means of a categorization of part-of relationships and by associating semantic constraints with individual categories. We further suggest a precise and, compared with existing techniques, less redundant specification of constraints accompanying part-of categories based on the degree of exclusiveness and dependence of parts on composite objects. Although the approach appears generally applicable, the object oriented Unified Modeling Language (UMF) is used to present our findings. Several examples demonstrate the applicability of the categories introduced.

A literature survey shows that the teacher's own impression of the teaching and the students is the most common way of evaluating novelties in teaching. However, also low cost methods with better validity and reliability were found. These included data from several sources, or they comprised of several learning cycles in an iterative development.