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Chiodini_Hauswirth_2023_ACM_SPLASH-E
Conference paper (in proceedings)

Teaching programming with graphics : pitfalls and a solution

  • Chiodini, Luca ORCID Istituto del software (SI), Facoltà di scienze informatiche, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera
  • Sorva, Juha Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
  • Hauswirth, Matthias Istituto del software (SI), Facoltà di scienze informatiche, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera
  • 2023
Published in:
  • ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E. - 2023
Education
Graphics
Library
Visual
Novices
Programming
Decomposition
English 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.
Collections
Language
  • English
Classification
Computer science and technology
Notes
  • SPLASH-E '23: 2023 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E
  • Cascais Portugal
  • Ottobre 19, 2023
License
Rights reserved
Open access status
green
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://n2t.net/ark:/12658/srd1334747
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