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IDE Interactions of Novices Transitioning Between Programming Environments

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Towards a Collaborative Society Through Creative Learning (WCCE 2022)

Part of the book series: IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology ((IFIPAICT,volume 685))

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Abstract

Novices in introductory programming courses typically learn the fundamentals of programming using one of a wide of programming environments. These vary greatly in terms of the mechanisms they employ to assist programmers, including their approaches to compilation and error message presentation. It is yet to be established which, if any, of these mechanisms are more beneficial for learning. In this study, we utilize Java programming process data to investigate the interaction between novices and two different versions of the BlueJ pedagogical IDE, which differ substantially in terms of compilation mechanism and error message presentation. Specifically, we compare novices that used both BlueJ 3 and BlueJ 4 with those who exclusively used either and the effects of the order in which they transition between BlueJ versions. We find substantial differences between different cohorts in terms of error messages and compilation which provides evidence that programming environments play an important part in influencing the programming practices of novices. This work supports the hypothesis that the choice of programming environment significantly affects user behavior with respect to specific programming interactions and therefore it is reasonable to expect a difference in how these environments affect learning.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This was done as compiler error messages are known to differ across Java versions [8].

  2. 2.

    The range limits are equidistant from the first day that transition to BlueJ 4 was observed.

  3. 3.

    A session is bounded by two distinct events sent from the user to the Blackbox database, indicating the launch and termination of BlueJ.

  4. 4.

    This equation can be used to describe every user’s interaction with BlueJ 3 (or similar environment). Values that do not satisfy the equation are a result of missing data in Blackbox.

  5. 5.

    Zenodo repository url: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7509557.

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Acknowledgements

The work presented in this paper is funded by the Irish Research Council under grant agreement GOIPG/2020/1660.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Ioannis Karvelas, Joe Dillane & Brett A. Becker

Authors
  1. Ioannis Karvelas
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  2. Joe Dillane
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  3. Brett A. Becker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brett A. Becker .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, La Trobe University, Deepdene, VIC, Australia

    Therese Keane

  2. Education and Social Research Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK

    Cathy Lewin

  3. University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Torsten Brinda

  4. Istituto Tecnologie Didattiche, Consiglio Nazioanale delle Ricerche, Genoa, Genova, Italy

    Rosa Bottino

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Karvelas, I., Dillane, J., Becker, B.A. (2023). IDE Interactions of Novices Transitioning Between Programming Environments. In: Keane, T., Lewin, C., Brinda, T., Bottino, R. (eds) Towards a Collaborative Society Through Creative Learning. WCCE 2022. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology, vol 685. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43393-1_54

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43393-1_54

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-43392-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-43393-1

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