Tiro is currently being tested in two CS classes. Once those tests are complete and I’ve shaken out the major bugs, the code and documentation for Tiro will be published here.
Tiro is a small, light-weight, assignment submission system. I wrote it because I couldn’t find any good software that met my needs.
Tiro allows students to submit their assignments and view previously submitted assignments. It has an advanced search feature and can run automated checks on each submission. It uses the existing file system to store submissions so downstream code can easily process the submitted files. It doesn’t require a complicated web framework. It is just a single-file Perl script that runs as a CGI program.
Tiro is named after Macrus Tillius Tiro who was a Roman slave owned by Cicero. He figures prominently in the early history of notary publics which is appropriate given that the Tiro program is effectively a notarizer for assignment submissions.
Macrus Tillius Tiro invented the shorthand system of notae Tironianae (Tironian notes). Originally, a notarius (notary) was anyone who used the shorthand system. The shorthand system allowed the recording of statements and meetings in real-time which led to the notarii being official record keepers. Thus the meaning of the term notarius shifted to mean an official records keeper or one who certifies documents and eventually the modern term, notary.