About Me
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I am an Associate Professor of Computer Science at York College of Pennsylvania. I teach a variety of courses here, specifically introductory programming, programming languages, software engineering, and various electives.
My publications page has electronic copies of most of my publications. All of the assignments, lecture notes, and other materials I have developed for courses are linked from this web page (see the previous courses link.)
What I'm Working On
My main project (with Jaime Spacco at Knox College) is CloudCoder, an open-source web-based programming exercise system (inspired by CodingBat). CloudCoder supports some nifty features, such as:
- Students just need a web-browser to use it (no plugin required)
- Exercises in C/C++, Java, Python, and Ruby
- Uses the outstanding ACE editor
- Pretty nice user interface: see screenshots
- A repository of free exercises (contributions welcome)
- Support for in-class quizzes
Although there are still some rough edges, CloudCoder is pretty straightforward to install and use: see the website for details. Drop me a line if you would like more information, or are interested trying it out on our demo server.
I am also working on FunWithSound, a music composition library that makes it easy to write Java and Processing programs that make music:
Past Projects
Projects I have worked on include:
-
FindBugs
, a static analysis
tool for Java (OOPSLA 2004 Onward! paper)
- GeekOS, an educational operating system kernel (SIGCSE 2004 paper)
-
Marmoset
,
an automated assignment submission and testing system
(ITiCSE 2006 paper)
- Libtermgraph, a simplified screen output library for introductory programming courses (CCSCE 2008 paper)
- AceGWT is the "official" integration of the Ajax.org Code Editor (ACE) with the Google Web Toolkit.
- CarPi, a Raspberry Pi based system for playing movies in the car (i.e., keeping kids entertained on long trips.) It's much nicer than using a car DVD player.
Other stuff
In 2014, 2015, and 2016 I helped run the CCSC Eastern Conference programming contest. You can see the problems we used on the contest problems page. Feel free to use these as practice problems.
My github page has the code for pretty much everything I'm working on. Occasionally I write things in my blog: they are my opinions only.
Bio
I was born in Syracuse, NY and grew up in Fayetteville, NY. I attended Earlham College, where I received a B.A. in Computer Science in 1994. After 4 years as a software developer (including a stint at Cigital) I started graduate school at the University of Maryland, where I received an M.S. (2001) and Ph.D. (2005) in Computer Science. My graduate advisor was Bill Pugh. During the 2005-6 academic year I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Vassar College. In Fall 2006 I joined the faculty at York College of Pennsylvania.
I live in Spring Garden Township, PA with my wife Kate Swope and our sons Eli and Gus.
The name "Hovemeyer" is most likely from the German "Hofmeier", which means "farm steward". I don't know anything about farming, though.