Introduction to CS Roo - Motivation
In my opinion, courses should have strong public and private facing websites. The CSU CS Department has a long tradition of strong public facing course sites, and almost all our courses have such pages. What tools to use in developing these sites is a tricky matter. Content Management Systems (CMS) have clear advantages, but they also come at a price in terms of learning curve, ongoing support, etc.
The alternative to using a CMS is direct coding, for example PHP and HTML. This is a poor option for most people, but computer scientists are an unusual group. Generally, computer scientists are comfortable reading, adapting and writing code, and some may prefer the control and simplicity of direct coding over the alternative of mastering and adapting a CMS. The CS Roo course template exits to help those taking the direct route.
While I am the primary developer behind CS Roo, others have also contributed and their help in this effort is greatly appreciated. Those who have contributed include Chris Willcox, Jaime Ruiz and Felipe Volpatto.
Getting CS Roo
The CS Roo template is available to those at CSU through an SVN repository. To use the command below first request that your account be added to the CS Department's Unix Group webdev . Here is the command to export a clean copy of CS Roo:
- svn export svn+ssh://login-name@svn.cs.colostate.edu/s/parsons/l/sys/webdev/svn/courses/csroo
There is also a clean download zip file available for Version 3.1.1 released January 22, 2016.
Previewing and Learning More about CS Roo
CS Roo is posted online including documentation. Reviewing this site is the best way to learn more about CS Roo
