Teacher kit

A practical route from MARS MIPS to webMARS, with stable exercise links, reproducible revisions and a no-network fallback.

A 15-minute migration

1. Open one existing .s, .asm or .mips file with File → Open from Disk.
2. Assemble with F3, run with F5, step with F7 and backstep with F8.
3. Check Settings → Strict MARS 4.5 compatibility when an exercise depends on historical behaviour.
4. Test input, output, syscalls, memory map and any required Tools.
5. Keep the original download beside the course material as the offline fallback.

Stable links

• /e/<id> opens a built-in example whose ID is release-tested.
• /p/<public-name> follows the latest published revision.
• /p/<public-name>@<revision> pins an immutable revision and is the recommended assessment link.

Public names are first-come and permanent within one BackMars installation. Archiving hides a project but never releases its name. Always copy the complete URL, because another university can run a different installation with the same public name.

Publishing an exercise

1. Open and test the project locally, then sign in and confirm the account email.
2. Choose Online → Project → Publish Active Project, select a permanent public name, title, kind, difficulty and license.
3. Share the pinned revision in worksheets and graded activities. Use the latest-revision URL for material that should evolve.
4. For a correction, choose Online → My Publications → Publish active project as new revision. Earlier revisions remain unchanged.

Ready-to-paste LMS text

Open the exercise: [PINNED WEBMARS URL]
Required version: webMARS [VERSION], revision [REVISION]
Submit: your .s/.asm source plus the requested output or explanation.
If the network is unavailable, download the supplied source and open it from disk.

Privacy and self-hosting

Editing and execution are local by default. Cloud projects, account recovery and public publication use the BackMars selected by this installation. A university or teacher may deploy both components and control retention, SMTP, allowed origins and support policy. Never place SMTP credentials in the webMARS files: they belong only in the protected BackMars server environment.

First-class checklist

• Test the exact shared URL in a signed-out browser.
• Record the full hostname, webMARS version and pinned revision.
• Provide the source download and expected input as a fallback.
• State whether students may use Cloud; it is never required for local work.
• Explain that opening public material creates an independent local copy.