Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120403
Austin Cory Bart, Luke Gusukuma, D. Kafura
Block-based languages are a useful scaffold for novice programmers to create syntactically correct code. However, block environments that attempt to represent feature-rich languages, such as Python or Java, face serious usability and pedagogical challenges. How can the affordances and controls of a block be exposed, without over-complicating the block's interface and obscuring its meaning to the user? In this paper, we visually explore a number of interface mechanisms to reconfigure blocks. We outline research questions to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms, and call on the community to pursue these trade-offs further.
{"title":"Really pushing my buttons: Affordances in block interfaces","authors":"Austin Cory Bart, Luke Gusukuma, D. Kafura","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120403","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120403","url":null,"abstract":"Block-based languages are a useful scaffold for novice programmers to create syntactically correct code. However, block environments that attempt to represent feature-rich languages, such as Python or Java, face serious usability and pedagogical challenges. How can the affordances and controls of a block be exposed, without over-complicating the block's interface and obscuring its meaning to the user? In this paper, we visually explore a number of interface mechanisms to reconfigure blocks. We outline research questions to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of these mechanisms, and call on the community to pursue these trade-offs further.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130898201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120414
T. Price, T. Barnes
Block-based programming environments make learning to program easier by allowing learners to focus on concepts rather than syntax. However, these environments offer little support when learners encounter difficulty with programming concepts themselves, especially in the absence of instructors. Textual programming environments increasingly use AI and data mining to provide intelligent, adaptive support for students, similar to human tutoring, which has been shown to improve performance and learning outcomes. In this position paper, we argue that block-based programming environments should also include these features. This paper gives an overview of promising research in intelligent support for programming and highlights the challenges and opportunities for applying this work to block-based programming.
{"title":"Position paper: Block-based programming should offer intelligent support for learners","authors":"T. Price, T. Barnes","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120414","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120414","url":null,"abstract":"Block-based programming environments make learning to program easier by allowing learners to focus on concepts rather than syntax. However, these environments offer little support when learners encounter difficulty with programming concepts themselves, especially in the absence of instructors. Textual programming environments increasingly use AI and data mining to provide intelligent, adaptive support for students, similar to human tutoring, which has been shown to improve performance and learning outcomes. In this position paper, we argue that block-based programming environments should also include these features. This paper gives an overview of promising research in intelligent support for programming and highlights the challenges and opportunities for applying this work to block-based programming.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132977452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120404
E. Pasternak, Rachel Fenichel, Andrew N. Marshall
Blockly is an open source library that makes it easy to add block based visual programming to an app. It is designed to be flexible and supports a large set of features for different applications. It has been used for programming animated characters on a screen; creating story scripts; controlling robots; and even generating legal documents. But Blockly is not itself a language; developers who use Blockly create their own block languages. When developers create an app using Blockly, they should carefully consider the style, which blocks to use, and what APIs and language features are right for their audience.
{"title":"Tips for creating a block language with blockly","authors":"E. Pasternak, Rachel Fenichel, Andrew N. Marshall","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120404","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120404","url":null,"abstract":"Blockly is an open source library that makes it easy to add block based visual programming to an app. It is designed to be flexible and supports a large set of features for different applications. It has been used for programming animated characters on a screen; creating story scripts; controlling robots; and even generating legal documents. But Blockly is not itself a language; developers who use Blockly create their own block languages. When developers create an app using Blockly, they should carefully consider the style, which blocks to use, and what APIs and language features are right for their audience.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"247 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133417651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120405
D. Mason, Kruti Dave
There is wide consensus that most people should have some programming capability, whether to control the Internet of Things, or to analyse the world of data around them. While some people focus on teaching conventional text-based languages like Javascript or Python, there is evidence that visual programming languages are more accessible for naive programmers. Visual programming languages fall into two broad categories: block-based, imperative programming, or flow-based, functional programming. However there have not been empirical studies to evaluate the relative merits of the two categories. This paper describes a study of hundreds of random people via Amazon Mechanical Turk attempting to program some simple problems in one or the other of two environments designed to be as similar as possible, except for the choice of paradigm.
{"title":"Block-based versus flow-based programming for naive programmers","authors":"D. Mason, Kruti Dave","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120405","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120405","url":null,"abstract":"There is wide consensus that most people should have some programming capability, whether to control the Internet of Things, or to analyse the world of data around them. While some people focus on teaching conventional text-based languages like Javascript or Python, there is evidence that visual programming languages are more accessible for naive programmers. Visual programming languages fall into two broad categories: block-based, imperative programming, or flow-based, functional programming. However there have not been empirical studies to evaluate the relative merits of the two categories. This paper describes a study of hundreds of random people via Amazon Mechanical Turk attempting to program some simple problems in one or the other of two environments designed to be as similar as possible, except for the choice of paradigm.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"18 Suppl 1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123563514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120412
Ben Selwyn-Smith, Michael Homer, C. Anslow
Block-based programming environments are typically designed for desktop machines or mobile devices. Desktops and mobiles are generally designed for single users to interact with, which makes it hard for multiple users to collaborate effectively. In this paper we explore the possibilities of digital multi-touch tabletops to foster collaborative programming in a block-based paradigm. We note both the different challenges afforded in this new interaction model and the potential benefits unique to collaborative programming with tabletops.
{"title":"Towards collaborative block-based programming on digital tabletops","authors":"Ben Selwyn-Smith, Michael Homer, C. Anslow","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120412","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120412","url":null,"abstract":"Block-based programming environments are typically designed for desktop machines or mobile devices. Desktops and mobiles are generally designed for single users to interact with, which makes it hard for multiple users to collaborate effectively. In this paper we explore the possibilities of digital multi-touch tabletops to foster collaborative programming in a block-based paradigm. We note both the different challenges afforded in this new interaction model and the potential benefits unique to collaborative programming with tabletops.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129695860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120415
Michelle Ichinco, Caitlin L. Kelleher
Programmers often attempt to use example code in order to fix bugs, learn, and remind themselves of code concepts. Many existing programming environments make text code examples available for the common programmer. Blocks code examples are typically less available within programming environments and harder to re-appropriate, especially for novices learning independently. This position statement suggests ways of making example code more available and useful to novice programmers in blocks programming environments.
{"title":"The need for improved support for interacting with block examples","authors":"Michelle Ichinco, Caitlin L. Kelleher","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120415","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120415","url":null,"abstract":"Programmers often attempt to use example code in order to fix bugs, learn, and remind themselves of code concepts. Many existing programming environments make text code examples available for the common programmer. Blocks code examples are typically less available within programming environments and harder to re-appropriate, especially for novices learning independently. This position statement suggests ways of making example code more available and useful to novice programmers in blocks programming environments.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115443522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120430
Maja Svanberg
In trying to understand the big picture of how users learn to program in App Inventor, we want to be able to represent projects in a way suitable for large scale learning analytics. Here I present different representations of projects that could potentially be used to identify App Inventor projects that have structural similarities to each other, e.g., projects created by users following tutorials. I compare the different representations based solely on how accurately they predict the correct tutorial from a labeled data set. The results suggest that we use both blocks and components from a project, apply TF-IDF to the counts of each feature, and measure distance or similarity in terms of a generalized Jaccard distance. This work lays the foundation for being able to find clusters of similar projects to distinguish original from unoriginal projects and to be able to filter out similar projects when trying to determine a user's skill level.
{"title":"Using feature vector representations to identify similar projects in app inventor","authors":"Maja Svanberg","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120430","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120430","url":null,"abstract":"In trying to understand the big picture of how users learn to program in App Inventor, we want to be able to represent projects in a way suitable for large scale learning analytics. Here I present different representations of projects that could potentially be used to identify App Inventor projects that have structural similarities to each other, e.g., projects created by users following tutorials. I compare the different representations based solely on how accurately they predict the correct tutorial from a labeled data set. The results suggest that we use both blocks and components from a project, apply TF-IDF to the counts of each feature, and measure distance or similarity in terms of a generalized Jaccard distance. This work lays the foundation for being able to find clusters of similar projects to distinguish original from unoriginal projects and to be able to filter out similar projects when trying to determine a user's skill level.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114389477","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120413
A. Malizia, Tommaso Turchi, K. Olsen
Block-oriented programming environments, such as Scratch and AppInventor, have become mainstream and have helped introduce non-programmers to algorithmic thinking; that is, to computational thinking (CT) skills. In various experiments, referenced in this paper, we observed how objects (tangibles) augmented with digital properties — that is, tangible user interface (TUI) objects — can help develop CT skills. We investigate which paradigm can be used to introduce CT skills with TUIs. By drawing on past experience, we conclude that block-oriented programming provides a suitable answer to our research questions. Furthermore, we introduce a framework for implementing block-oriented programmable objects that we believe can help end-users learn CT skills.
{"title":"Block-oriented programming with tangibles: An engaging way to learn computational thinking skills","authors":"A. Malizia, Tommaso Turchi, K. Olsen","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120413","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120413","url":null,"abstract":"Block-oriented programming environments, such as Scratch and AppInventor, have become mainstream and have helped introduce non-programmers to algorithmic thinking; that is, to computational thinking (CT) skills. In various experiments, referenced in this paper, we observed how objects (tangibles) augmented with digital properties — that is, tangible user interface (TUI) objects — can help develop CT skills. We investigate which paradigm can be used to introduce CT skills with TUIs. By drawing on past experience, we conclude that block-oriented programming provides a suitable answer to our research questions. Furthermore, we introduce a framework for implementing block-oriented programmable objects that we believe can help end-users learn CT skills.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127722768","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120429
D. Rough, A. Quigley
Trigger-Action Programming (TAP) has been shown to support end-users' rule-based mental models of context-aware applications. However, when desired behaviours increase in complexity, this can lead to ambiguity that confuses events, states, and how they can be combined in meaningful ways. Blocks programming could provide a solution, through constrained editing of visual triggers, conditions and actions. We observed slips and mistakes by users performing TAP with Jeeves, our domain-specific blocks environment, and propose solutions.
{"title":"TAPping into mental models with blocks","authors":"D. Rough, A. Quigley","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120429","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120429","url":null,"abstract":"Trigger-Action Programming (TAP) has been shown to support end-users' rule-based mental models of context-aware applications. However, when desired behaviours increase in complexity, this can lead to ambiguity that confuses events, states, and how they can be combined in meaningful ways. Blocks programming could provide a solution, through constrained editing of visual triggers, conditions and actions. We observed slips and mistakes by users performing TAP with Jeeves, our domain-specific blocks environment, and propose solutions.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121265219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-10-01DOI: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120402
Yana Malysheva
Grasshopper is an Android application which teaches people JavaScript through a series of coding puzzles. As part of this application, we developed an AST-based JavaScript editor for the phone. The visual representation of the code is built using the AST as the source of truth, and user actions modify the AST rather than a code string, much like a block code editor. At the same time, we style this visual representation to look as similar as possible to syntax-highlighted, formatted JavaScript code in a text based editor. This paper outlines the system, the reasoning behind this design, and some early observations from users interacting with it.
{"title":"An AST-based interface for composing and editing javascript on the phone","authors":"Yana Malysheva","doi":"10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/BLOCKS.2017.8120402","url":null,"abstract":"Grasshopper is an Android application which teaches people JavaScript through a series of coding puzzles. As part of this application, we developed an AST-based JavaScript editor for the phone. The visual representation of the code is built using the AST as the source of truth, and user actions modify the AST rather than a code string, much like a block code editor. At the same time, we style this visual representation to look as similar as possible to syntax-highlighted, formatted JavaScript code in a text based editor. This paper outlines the system, the reasoning behind this design, and some early observations from users interacting with it.","PeriodicalId":424744,"journal":{"name":"2017 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (B&B)","volume":"95 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114868599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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