Execute the
next expression in this subroutine. 
Execute the next expression.
Execute to the
end of this subroutine.
Execute until
the line the cursor is on or until the program terminates.
Restart the
program.
Source Code Subwindow
Execute the
next expression in this subroutine. Execute the next expression.
Execute to the
end of this subroutine.
Execute until
the line the cursor is on or until the program terminates.
Restart the
program.
Expression Engine Subwindow
Execute one
step. 
Undo last
command..
Stack, Static, Heap, and Scratch Subwindows
Display one
line per variable.. 
Display one line per byte.
Display values
in hexadecimal.
Box & Arrow View Subwindow
Display stack
variables along left border. 
Display static variables along the left border.
All subwindows can be moved, resized, or brought to the front, though it sometimes takes a few tries to get the mouse in just the right spot.
All subwindows can be maximized, minimized, or closed. Once closed, they are gone until a file is opened.
If you are running the Teaching Machine as an applet, do not try to exit it by clicking on the x in the upper right corner.
If you ask the applet to do something that, because of a security restriction, it can not do, a window will pop up to tell you so. Typically you may not exit (exiting would shut down your web browser, which, while not a security problem, is annoying) nor load a local file.
Unfortunately the Java slogan of write-once, run-anywhere remains an unattained ideal. Here are some of the problems we know about.
If windows within the Teaching Machine become blank, when they are brought to the forground, you may need upgrade your Java system. We have only seen this problem under Windows NT with Internet Explorer 4.0. To get latest version of Java from Microsoft (as of Sept. 99) click here. Microsoft URLs seem to change quite often, so if that doesn't work, search Microsoft's web sites using keywords like "microsoft virtual machine", which is what they now call their Java virtual machine.
For further motivation to upgrade your VM read this security bulletin.
I can offer no guarrantee that anything from Microsoft will work. The first time I ran this installer it wiped out my Java system, but the second time it worked fine.
Under Netscape and Windows, loading a file can take up to a minute. We have no idea why. The best advice we have is to get Internet Explorer 5.0 --- or Linux.
If you are using Internet Explorer and it's slow, make sure that you have enabled JIT (Just in Time Compilation). Not using JIT adds significant overhead to interpreting the Java.
Make sure that you are using at least Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Navigator (or Communicator) 4.08. Make sure that Java is enabled. Also make sure you give the Teaching Machine enough time to download.
This release supports only C++, and then only a subset of C++, so your perfectly valid C++ program may cause the Teaching Machine to complain.
Furthermore, the Teaching Machine makes only the spottiest attempt to certify that your code is valid C++ before executing it. We recommend compiling all examples, with a real compiler, prior to running them on the Teaching Machine.
There is no good documentation of the supported subset yet. However a description of the syntax accepted by the parser is available in EBNF form here.
A list of known bugs and suggested improvments for the current version of the teaching machine is listed here.
Send reports of bugs and suggested improvements to theo@engr.mun.ca.