Thinking out of the Box: Comparing metaphors for variables in programming education

When teaching novices programming, misconceptions can occur. Misconception are incorrect beliefs about certain programming concept. For example, some novices think that a variable can hold multiple values, in the case of two consecutive assignment statements, such as x = 5; x = 7. While explaining variables introductory materials often use...

Code Phonology: An exploration into the vocalization of code

When children learn to read, they almost invariably start with oral reading: reading the words and sentences out loud. Experiments have shown that when novices read text aloud, their comprehension is better then when reading in silence. This is attributed to the fact that reading aloud focuses the child’s attention to the text. We hypothesize...

How do Scratch Programmers Name Variables and Procedures?

Research shows the importance of selecting good names to identifiers in software code: more meaningful names improve readability. In particular, several guidelines encourage long and descriptive variable names. A recent study analyzed the use of variable names in five programming languages, focusing on single-letter variable names, because of...

Programming Education to Preschoolers: Reflections and Observations from a Field Study

In recent years, there has been a rise in methods and tools dedicated to programming education for chil- dren of primary school age. In this paper, we present our experience of providing five programming ses- sions to a group of eleven children between four and six years. Our sessions followed problem-solving and game-playing themes and featured...

Semi-automatic extraction of cross-table data from a set of spreadsheets

Spreadsheets are widely used in companies. End-users often value the high degree of flexibility and freedom spreadsheets provide. However, these features lead to the development of a variety of data forms inside spreadsheets. A cross-table is one of these forms of data. A cross-table is defined as a rectangular form of data, which expresses...

Improving the Performance of a Large Scale Spreadsheet: A Case Study

Spreadsheets are used extensively for calculations in several domains, especially in finance and insurance. Spreadsheets offer a clear benefit to their users: they are an easy to learn application in which to express their business needs, however, there are downsides too. Like software, spreadsheets can have a long life span in which they are...