SHF: Small: User Studies to Improve Novice Programming

该项目将进行一系列用户研究，以调查编程新手学生错误报告的有效性。这些研究将集中在学生如何理解错误信息，源代码突出显示的有效性，以及语言句法对学生处理错误的影响。PI将利用编程环境收集有关学生如何应对错误的细粒度数据。在这种情况下，这种科学的用户研究，特别是细粒度的用户研究是罕见的；为该项目开发的方法和工具将适用于未来的研究。研究结果将用于改善新手程序员在报告错误的界面和关于句法和类型系统的语言选择方面的编程环境。研究结果将为其他为新手设计新编程工具的人确定原则。结果将通过Drracket环境传播，该环境广泛用于大学、高中和中学生的课后计划的计算机入门课程。

The project will conduct a series of user studies to investigate the effectiveness of error reporting with novice programming students. The studies will focus on how students understand error messages, the effectiveness of source-code highlighting, and the impact of language syntax on how students process errors. The PIs will instrument a programming environment to collect fine-grained data on how students respond to errors. Such scientific user studies, particularly at a fine-grained level, are rare in this context; the methodologies and tools developed for this project will be applicable to future studies. Study results will be used to improve programming environments for novice programmers with regards to interfaces for reporting errors and linguistic choices regarding syntax and type systems. Findings will identify principles for others who design new programming tools for novices. Results will be disseminated through the DrRacket environment, which is in wide use in introductory computing courses in universities, high schools, and after-school programs for middle school students.