A new formal laboratory environment for the introductory computer science curriculum is developed. The infrastructure for this environment and the focal point of the effort on this project is a unique software system, DYNALAB, that supports extensive experimentation in computer science. DYNALAB consists of a comprehensive library of expertly constructed Pascal programs, a program animator, and a user interface that makes DYNALAB accessible to the novice. Students are able to retrieve programs from the library and execute them through the program animator. Pertinent program execution dynamics are displayed under user control, including current line of execution, variable and parameter values, recursive stack mechanisms, statement counts, memory cell counts, and others. DYNALAB serves as a national model for computer science departments that are beginning to incorporate formal laboratories into the introductory curriculum. A series of laboratory manuals replete with experiments based on DYNALAB and DYNALAB itself are the products of this project.
