Dr. Vladimir Lara Villagrán

Dr. Vladimir Lara Villagrán

Formación académica

  • Doctorado en Informática, Institut National Polythécnique de Loraine, Francia,1982.
  • Bachillerato en Ciencias de la Computación, Universidad de Costa Rica. Costa Rica, 1978.

Experiencia laboral

Experiencia Docente:

  • Profesor Catedrático en la Universidad de Costa Rica. 1977 – 2010

Actividades de Investigación en la Universidad de Costa Rica:

  • No. 326-A4507: Desarrollo de un demostrador usando agentes inteligentes para el dominio turístico y de patrimonio cultural. 01/03/2004 – 28/02/2006.
  • No. 326-A6816: Intercambio científico y tecnológico entre la comunidad informática costarricense y latinoamericana. 01/07/2006 – 30/11/2007.
  • No. 326-A8726: Apoyo a la producción y divulgación internacional de la investigación costrarricenses en tecnologías de información y comunicaciones. 01/03/2008 – 31/12/20.
  • No. 326-B0708: Creación del centro de investigación y desarrollo en tecnologías de información y comunicaciones (CIDTIC). 04/01/2010 – 28/02/2011.
  • No. 723-A5192: Construcción de pruebas específicas para ingreso a carrera. 01/05/2005 – 31/12/2009.

Proyectos

Publicaciones

Effects of oral metaphors and allegories on programming problem solving

Descripción:

Metaphors of ordinary concepts are intensively used in computer science for naming abstract concepts and for designing users interfaces. Metaphors are mappings from a source domain (e.g., a stream) to a target domain (e.g., a sequence of bytes). Typically computing phenomena are explained using incoherent discourses at the source domain, formed by metaphors taken from a diversity of origins. Nonetheless, versatility of metaphors allows for the creation of coherent discourses in the origin domain that map the target computing discourse, and we call them allegories. The limited number of existing studies about this topic has compared only textual allegories, visual allegories, and the traditional unconnected metaphors. Although their findings are heterogeneous, equal effectiveness is the most frequent empirical result between these three types of metaphors. Furthermore, we have not found any study about oral allegories, in spite of oral being the most used modality for metaphors in computer science education. This article experimentally compares the effects of oral allegories and oral metaphors on a complex problem‐solving task. As in previous studies, our results did not find any significant differences on support or detriment of oral allegories. Our results support new metaphor theories posing that the context significantly influences the metaphors’ efficacy, and encourages future research about the interaction between context and allegories.

Tipo de publicación: Journal Article

Publicado en: Computer Applications in Engineering Education

A Precise Layout Manager for Vector Graphics

Descripción:

Automated layout is the use of software to determine the positions and sizes of visual elements that are part of an information presentation. As the amount of data that computers are able to process increases, automatic layout becomes more necessary. During the process of creating a program visualization, the authors needed a precise layout manager for scalable vector graphics that supported layers and animations. A literature review revealed the lack of a layout manager that satisfies these requirements. This paper reports the creation of a layout manager that uses floating-point arithmetic for precise and imperative arrangement of visual elements, that may be useful for other visual applications facing similar requirements.

Tipo de publicación: Conference Paper

Publicado en: 2019 IV Jornadas Costarricenses de Investigación en Computación e Informática (JoCICI)