The Error that is the Error Message: Comparing information expectations of novice programmers against the information in Python error messages

Learning to program is not a easy task, as has become evident from the abundance of research papers concerning the subject. One of the learning barriers of learning a new programming language is understanding their error message, as coding errors have to be resolved before the programmer can run the code or add new functionality to the program....

Investigating the Perception and Effects of Misunderstandings in Java Code

Although writing code seems trivial at times, problems arise when humans misinterpret what source code actually does. One of the potential causes are “atoms of confusion”; the smallest possible patterns of misinterpretable source code. The misunderstandings and errors have been studied in past for the C programming language. They are found to...

Generating Teacher Feedback through Parsons Problems

As computer science lies at the heart of almost all technological progress, widespread computer science education, and particularly programming education, is of great importance. In order to reach a large group of students, secondary schools can play an important role. However, students have difficulty learning programming concepts. Programming...

Design of Human Computer Interface for blind children to learn programming languages

As the modern world progressing towards digital technologies, there is an increasing need for school students to learn programming skills so that they fit into the labor market now and in the future. Tangible programming toys and block-based languages are popular among younger children to learn to code. Students in middle and high school in...

Self-efficacy of Dutch primary school teachers towards programming education

Only 32% of the Dutch primary schools do something with programming, despite its benefits on students’ skills, job opportunities, understanding of the world, and diversity. Primary school teachers not getting involved with programming education can be caused by a lack of belief in their teaching programming abilities. The belief in your own...

Improving Code Quality in Agile Software Development

Agile software development is a popular approach for developing software. Another important topic of research in software engineering is code quality. Unfortunately, a minimal amount of extensive research has been done on how these two influence each other. The goal of this study is therefore to explore the connection between these two using a...

Teaching Computational Thinking - What do our educators need?

In the Netherlands a task-force, supported by the institute of curriculum development, Stichting Leerplan Ontwikkeling (SLO), has been assembled to define core objectives and learning goals for digital literacy that are to be finalized by 2019. The SLO defined digital literacy with the following four elements: ICT basic skills, computational...

Tool-assisted Spreadsheet Refactoring and Parsing Spreadsheet Formulas

Spreadsheets have a life-cycle similar to that of other software: they are inherited throughout an organization, are maintained by different users, and evolve over time to meet changing requirements. This leads to increased complexity and technical debt. In software engineering, refactoring is used to combat these problems by improving software...

Automating Acceptance Tests of a Distributed Application

Designing software tests is oftentimes just as challenging as designing the system under test (SUT) itself. A complex SUT will require a complex test suite to achieve a substantial amount of test coverage, and to install confidence in its correctness. In order to engineer complex systems, software engineers frequently apply patterns that are...

Copy-Paste Detection in Spreadsheets

When a company is in need of a reporting tool, the most commonly made decision is to choose for Excel. In fact, over 90% of the world’s companies base their decisions on a report made using Excel. This shows that the number of spreadsheet designers, of end-user programmers, is large. It has been estimated to be 5 times as large as the number of...