AriesType

AriesType's credits. Brian Dougher, a friend, helped out with the graphics and used his BASIC compiler to generate EXE files from the QBASIC source code

AriesType was a touch typing education program that I made while I was a freshman in high school. It tied into the local Novell NetWare network to be a multi-user application with different capabilities given to students, teachers, and system operators. AriesType also included basic local email and paging capabilities. At the time, I had penned some of my software as Aries Software or a variant, though Aries Software was simply an unregistered alter-ego of me.

I wrote AriesType in lieu of taking an introductory computer class in high school, and the work primarily occurred during class hours in the same classroom. My past experience at the time with computers and software enabled that position, though I still had to be at school during school hours. This project was my first network-enabled multi-user application and was worthwhile for learning about related concerns.

AriesType was completed as a working product, though its real-time student typing playback feature was never finished. The typing playback feature would have simulated what the screen looked like for a selected student's typing session, including delays and mistakes, though this likely would not have given much value to teachers. This and the email and paging features are a classic example of gold plating that less-experienced software engineers suffer from.

Download

• Download the AriesType installer, which uses CatSetup for an easy installation instead of AriesType's own installer

Screen Shots

The unfinished graphical version of AriesType. Only the teacher's menu had a graphical alternative	The student's menu. Menu item accessibility is controlled for each student by the teacher. If the exit option is disabled, then attempting to exit tells the student to reboot the computer
The text version of the teacher's menu. Real-time playback of the student's typing was not finished, which is shown as the first item in the menu. In retrospect, such a feature is likely of little or no value to teachers	The graphical version of the teacher's menu with the paging submenu shown. Students can page teachers, similar to how a mobile pager operates, but unlike instant messaging, a teacher must check for pages, and pages to not contain anything other than the name of the student who paged
The system operator's menu	View of a student typing sentences. AriesType collects metrics on accuracy and timing as the student types
The results of a student's typing efforts, which is shown to the student after they finish. The teacher can also retrieve these results as it's stored on the network	[[