From video games to debugging code
| Autor: | Sean Deitz, Ugo Buy |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Java
business.industry Program animation Computer science Programming language media_common.quotation_subject 05 social sciences Computer programming 050301 education 02 engineering and technology Python (programming language) JavaScript computer.software_genre Algorithmic program debugging Debugging 020204 information systems ComputingMilieux_COMPUTERSANDEDUCATION 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering Debug code business Software engineering 0503 education computer computer.programming_language media_common |
| Zdroj: | GAS@ICSE |
| DOI: | 10.1145/2896958.2896964 |
| Popis: | Novice programmers often struggle with many concepts underlying computer programming. The concept of a program variable--that is, a named storage location--is a centerpiece of the programming languages typically taught in introductory computer science courses including C, Java, JavaScript, Python, and C++. However, to date empirical studies suggest that misinterpretation of the state of a program remains a primary source of errors by novice programmers. We address this challenge by defining a game-based approach to interactive program debugging and by emphasizing the concept of program state in our approach. We specifically chose the metaphor of the popular ``Space Invaders'' videogame to provide a visual interpretation that reinforces the notion of program state in a way likely to be attractive to college students majoring in computer science. Our visualization technique and the resulting toolset are intended to steer students toward a debugging mindset centered on read and write operations of program variables. Here we discuss the key aspects of our game-based debugging approach. We also report preliminary results from field studies with actual college students who used our toolset to debug simple programs in which we injected faults. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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