A method for updating a first version of installed application files to a second version is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of: responsive to receiving a delta file defining the changes between a file in the first version and a corresponding file in the second version, transforming said first version of the file into a first transformed image comprising a series of records. The changes contained in the delta file are then applied to selected records of the first transformed image to generate a transformed image of the second version. The transformation on the transformed image of said second version is then reversed to generate the second version of said file on said client computer.

A safe system and method for reversibly translating source code between unlike character sets, or formats, includes a mapping table of syntactically necessary characters and, possibly, other frequently used characters, for translating source characters from a first format to a second format. A marker character is used to replace other characters in the source code while preserving the original, replaced source characters in a comment file. Upon reverse translating, syntactically necessary characters are translated back into the first format using the mapping table, and marker characters are replaced by original source characters from the comment file.

The invention concerns computer-assisted education, in which a school curriculum is stored in computer repositories. A learning profile is maintained for every student, which indicates the student's capabilities, preferred learning style, and progress. Based on the profile, an Intelligent Administrator (IA) selects appropriate material for presentation to the student during each learning session. The IA then assesses whether the student has mastered the material. If not, the material is presented in a different way. If repeated different presentations fail to instill mastery, the IA establishes a video conference between the student and a professor.