I am new to WeBWorK. Could people share their recommendations for how to get started as a a problem author?
The documentation seems to be distributed in a number of locations and is not necessarily aimed at a non-technical audience...
Thank you!
Tom
Hi Tom,
At the risk of repeating what you've already found, I'd start on the Authors' page in the wiki, http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Category:Authors . That (hopefully) gives a good basic overview of what it means to write WeBWorK problems, and includes some sample problem files.
Once that makes sense, what worked for me was to then try and write some problems. This inevitably tells me what I want to figure out next, and leads to the index of problem coding techniques page, which includes a large number of code snippets that explain how to do specific things; that's also on the wiki, at http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/IndexOfProblemTechniques .
If the Perl programming part of the problems doesn't make sense, see the basic Perl syntax page, http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Basic_Perl_syntax , which has links to some other on-line resources for basic Perl help, or look on-line for a basic Perl tutorial.
And if none of that works, post again!
Hope that helps,
Gavin
At the risk of repeating what you've already found, I'd start on the Authors' page in the wiki, http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Category:Authors . That (hopefully) gives a good basic overview of what it means to write WeBWorK problems, and includes some sample problem files.
Once that makes sense, what worked for me was to then try and write some problems. This inevitably tells me what I want to figure out next, and leads to the index of problem coding techniques page, which includes a large number of code snippets that explain how to do specific things; that's also on the wiki, at http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/IndexOfProblemTechniques .
If the Perl programming part of the problems doesn't make sense, see the basic Perl syntax page, http://webwork.maa.org/wiki/Basic_Perl_syntax , which has links to some other on-line resources for basic Perl help, or look on-line for a basic Perl tutorial.
And if none of that works, post again!
Hope that helps,
Gavin
Hi Tom,
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but one thing to do is to find problems that are similar to the type you want to write and use them as models. Then use the pointers Gavin gave to do specific things.
When you do this, you should look for problems that are written using current techniques, i.e. ones that use Davide Cervvone's MathObjects. Many WeBWorK problems were written many years ago. They still work but using MathObjects gives you (and the students) many advantages.
You can recognize such problems by looking under "loadMacros" where you will see things like PGstandard.pl, MathObjects.pl and/or Context*.pl. Also in the body of the problem you may see constructions like Context()-> and ANS($something->cmp).
In the Library Browser click on "NPL Directory". I believe all the problems you will find under "Union", "Michigan" and "CollegeOfIdaho" use MathObjects. You can click "Edit it" to see and copy them. The other collections will contain a mixture of problems using old and new techniques.
Good luck.
Arnie
Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but one thing to do is to find problems that are similar to the type you want to write and use them as models. Then use the pointers Gavin gave to do specific things.
When you do this, you should look for problems that are written using current techniques, i.e. ones that use Davide Cervvone's MathObjects. Many WeBWorK problems were written many years ago. They still work but using MathObjects gives you (and the students) many advantages.
You can recognize such problems by looking under "loadMacros" where you will see things like PGstandard.pl, MathObjects.pl and/or Context*.pl. Also in the body of the problem you may see constructions like Context()-> and ANS($something->cmp).
In the Library Browser click on "NPL Directory". I believe all the problems you will find under "Union", "Michigan" and "CollegeOfIdaho" use MathObjects. You can click "Edit it" to see and copy them. The other collections will contain a mixture of problems using old and new techniques.
Good luck.
Arnie