United States Air Force JOVIAL Program Office

Challenge

The majority of the U.S. Department of Defense’s fielded weapon systems use software programs written in the JOVIAL language. These programs are used for on-board aircraft avionics, weapons management and deployment, radar management and display, and threat and target tracking. Currently there are very few programmers who are fluent in the JOVIAL language and skilled in maintaining and modifying existing code. Existing materials were inadequate for supporting advanced programmers or training new recruits who are learning the language. The U.S. Air Force JOVIAL Program Office sought help to create a set of engaging, instructionally effective lessons that would support the entire JOVIAL user community.

Solution

LetterPress Software partnered with Software Engineering Associates, Inc. (SEA) who specializes in the development and maintenance of JOVIAL language compilers and the JOVIAL Integrated Tool Set (ITS).

An analysis of existing JOVIAL programmers’ knowledge, experience, and workplace lead to new conclusions that shaped the scope of the project. The solution would require two components: a new set of concise, carefully designed tutorials and an electronic performance support system (EPSS). Key features of the new EPSS include a comparison of JOVIAL to C/C++, programmer’s reference, glossary, and detailed and extensive examples of JOVIAL code.

LetterPress developers created a tool for tutorial presentation and activity delivery that dynamically draws data from underlying content files. This approach significantly decreased development costs as well as facilitated global interface changes. This approach also dramatically reduced the time required for content revisions and lesson evaluations. A key feature of the tutorials was the implementation of a design for student learning experiences that embedded a JOVIAL compiler and simulator directly into the training. This enables the student to write, compile, and execute real JOVIAL code from within the lessons as required for each concept’s culminating performance activity.

Results

Comments from the client:

"The JOVIAL language, or any computer language, possesses instructing challenges due to the nuances of programming. The JPO was frankly apprehensive to begin such an endeavor. Letter Press Software, in conjunction with Software Engineering Associates (SEA), not only curbed our concerns but also surpassed our expectations by producing a JOVIAL CBT that is extremely user-friendly and comprehensive enough to teach both the novice and experienced programmer....The JOVIAL community holds letter Press Software in high regards and the JOVIAL Program Office recommends their services to anyone in need of an instructional design product."
Kasey Thompson
JOVIAL Program Manager

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