Teaching programming with graphics
pitfalls and a solution
Informazioni aggiuntive
Autori
Chiodini L.,
Sorva J.,
Hauswirth M.
Tipo
Contributo in atti di convegno
Anno
2023
Lingua
Inglese
Sommario
Many introductory programming courses employ graphics libraries that promote engagement and enable fun visuals. However, student excitement over graphical outputs is not a guarantee of conceptual understanding of programming, and graphics may even distract from intended learning outcomes. Our contribution is twofold. First, we analyze a selection of existing graphics libraries designed for novice programmers. We consider how these libraries foster clean decomposition, direct students’ attention to key content, and manage complexity; we find shortcomings in these respects. These shortcomings involve the libraries’ support for global coordinates and external graphics, as well as their rich APIs; we argue that these features, although powerful, are also potential pitfalls in student learning. Second, we present the design of a new graphics library, PyTamaro, which avoids the pitfalls with a minimalist design that eschews coordinates; we also outline a pedagogical approach that builds on PyTamaro’s strengths and deliberate limitations. We briefly discuss PyTamaro’s trade-offs in comparison to coordinate-based libraries. The work reported here paves the way for future empirical evaluations of PyTamaro and associated teaching practices.
Parole chiave
Education, Graphics, Library, Visual, Novices, Programming, Decomposition
Titolo atti di convegno
ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E
Nome convegno
SPLASH-E '23: 2023 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E
Luogo convegno
Cascais Portugal
Data convegno
Ottobre 19, 2023
Diffusione
Licenza
Diritti riservati
Visibilità
Pubblico
Status open access
Green
