Pub Date : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506500
Rodrigo Sousa Coutinho
In 2001, OutSystems was created with the goal of helping enterprises deliver applications on time and on budget. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, we built a platform from scratch that transforms visual models into running enterprise grade applications. During this session, 1 will share how the market has grown around low-code plattorms supported by visual languages. I will also tell the story behind the OutSystems visual language, and how we collaborated with academia to evolve the language to face the challenges and tradeoffs of delivering unique productivity gains to our developers - without compromising performance, security and robustness. Finally, we'll look into the future and the challenges new types of users, like citizen developers, bring to a language. We'll also take a peek at how we can teach and guide users of visual languages to build high quality applications with the help of machine learning.
{"title":"Bringing visual languages to market: The OutSystems story","authors":"Rodrigo Sousa Coutinho","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506500","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506500","url":null,"abstract":"In 2001, OutSystems was created with the goal of helping enterprises deliver applications on time and on budget. In order to achieve this ambitious goal, we built a platform from scratch that transforms visual models into running enterprise grade applications. During this session, 1 will share how the market has grown around low-code plattorms supported by visual languages. I will also tell the story behind the OutSystems visual language, and how we collaborated with academia to evolve the language to face the challenges and tradeoffs of delivering unique productivity gains to our developers - without compromising performance, security and robustness. Finally, we'll look into the future and the challenges new types of users, like citizen developers, bring to a language. We'll also take a peek at how we can teach and guide users of visual languages to build high quality applications with the help of machine learning.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"90 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124194262","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506584
Advait Sarkar, A. Gordon, S. Jones, N. Toronto
Spreadsheet errors are ubiquitous and costly, an unfortunate combination that is well-reported. A large class of these errors can be attributed to the inability to clearly see the underlying computational structure, as well as poor support for abstraction (encapsulation, re-use, etc). In this paper we propose a novel solution: a multiple-representation spreadsheet containing additional representations that allow abstract operations, without altering the conventional grid representation or its formula syntax. Through a user study, we demonstrate that the use of multiple representations can significantly improve user performance when performing spreadsheet authoring and debugging tasks. We close with a discussion of design implications and outline future directions for this line of inquiry.
{"title":"Calculation View: multiple-representation editing in spreadsheets","authors":"Advait Sarkar, A. Gordon, S. Jones, N. Toronto","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506584","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506584","url":null,"abstract":"Spreadsheet errors are ubiquitous and costly, an unfortunate combination that is well-reported. A large class of these errors can be attributed to the inability to clearly see the underlying computational structure, as well as poor support for abstraction (encapsulation, re-use, etc). In this paper we propose a novel solution: a multiple-representation spreadsheet containing additional representations that allow abstract operations, without altering the conventional grid representation or its formula syntax. Through a user study, we demonstrate that the use of multiple representations can significantly improve user performance when performing spreadsheet authoring and debugging tasks. We close with a discussion of design implications and outline future directions for this line of inquiry.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"223 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114306023","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506568
Parmit K. Chilana, Nathaniel Hudson, Srinjita Bhaduri, P. Shashikumar, Shaun K. Kane
We investigate how novice 3D modelers can remotely leverage real-time expert help to aid their learning tasks. We first carried out an observational study of remote novice-expert pairs of 3D modelers to understand traditional chat-based assistance in the context of learning 3D modeling. Next, we designed MarmalAid, a web-based 3D modeling tool with a novel real-time, in-context help feature that allows users to embed real-time chat conversations at any location within the 3D geometry of their models. Our user study with 12 novices who used both MarmalAid's real-time, in-context chat and an external chat tool to seek help, showed that novices found the real-time, in-context chat to be more useful and easier to use, and that experts asked for fewer clarifications, allowing the novices to ask more task-related questions. Our findings suggest to several design opportunities to utilize and extend the real-time, in-con-text heln concept in 3D modeline aoolications and bevond.
{"title":"Supporting Remote Real-Time Expert Help: Opportunities and Challenges for Novice 3D Modelers","authors":"Parmit K. Chilana, Nathaniel Hudson, Srinjita Bhaduri, P. Shashikumar, Shaun K. Kane","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506568","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506568","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate how novice 3D modelers can remotely leverage real-time expert help to aid their learning tasks. We first carried out an observational study of remote novice-expert pairs of 3D modelers to understand traditional chat-based assistance in the context of learning 3D modeling. Next, we designed MarmalAid, a web-based 3D modeling tool with a novel real-time, in-context help feature that allows users to embed real-time chat conversations at any location within the 3D geometry of their models. Our user study with 12 novices who used both MarmalAid's real-time, in-context chat and an external chat tool to seek help, showed that novices found the real-time, in-context chat to be more useful and easier to use, and that experts asked for fewer clarifications, allowing the novices to ask more task-related questions. Our findings suggest to several design opportunities to utilize and extend the real-time, in-con-text heln concept in 3D modeline aoolications and bevond.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"157 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133429505","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506560
Yerika Jimenez, A. Kapoor, Christina Gardner-Mccune
Block-based programming environments have increased students' interest in computer science (CS). Research suggests that block-based programming environments have positively impacted students' retention, effectiveness, efficiency, engagement, attitudes, and perceptions towards computing. We know that when novice programmers are learning to program in block-based programming environments, they need to understand the components of these environments, how to apply programming concepts, and how to create artifacts. However, few studies have been done to understand the impacts that usability of block-based programming environments may have on students' programming. In this poster, we present results from a two-part study designed to understand the impact that usability of the programming environment has on novice programmers when learning to program in Scratch. Our findings indicate that usability challenges may affect students' ability to navigate and create programs within block-based programming environments.
{"title":"Usability Challenges that Novice Programmers Experience when Using Scratch for the First Time","authors":"Yerika Jimenez, A. Kapoor, Christina Gardner-Mccune","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506560","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506560","url":null,"abstract":"Block-based programming environments have increased students' interest in computer science (CS). Research suggests that block-based programming environments have positively impacted students' retention, effectiveness, efficiency, engagement, attitudes, and perceptions towards computing. We know that when novice programmers are learning to program in block-based programming environments, they need to understand the components of these environments, how to apply programming concepts, and how to create artifacts. However, few studies have been done to understand the impacts that usability of block-based programming environments may have on students' programming. In this poster, we present results from a two-part study designed to understand the impact that usability of the programming environment has on novice programmers when learning to program in Scratch. Our findings indicate that usability challenges may affect students' ability to navigate and create programs within block-based programming environments.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129667584","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506507
Rebecca Krosnick
People are becoming increasingly interested in creating their own digital content and media. This is evident in the enormous number of blogs, personal websites, and portfolios available online. Website templates and creation/hosting services (e.g., Wix, WordPress, Google Sites) have made it possible for even non-programmers to create websites. However, with these services, non-programmers are limited to templates or basic user interface elements and behaviors, lacking the ability to create truly custom web pages that satisfy their needs. More complex and custom user interfaces like digital games and software are virtually impossible for non-programmers to create; even visual programming (e.g., Blockly, GameMaker Studio 2) and data flow languages that try to make computing more approachable still require an understanding of programming and computing concepts. As simple as it is for the average person to sketch a User Interface (UI) on paper or describe it in words, I believe it should be just as easy for them to create the actual digital UI with all of the desired behaviors. Programming should not be a barrier to creating new things and sharing them with the world.
人们对创建自己的数字内容和媒体越来越感兴趣。这在网上大量的博客、个人网站和作品集中是显而易见的。网站模板和创建/托管服务(例如,Wix, WordPress, Google Sites)使得即使是非程序员也可以创建网站。然而,有了这些服务,非程序员只能使用模板或基本的用户界面元素和行为,缺乏创建真正满足他们需求的自定义网页的能力。非程序员几乎不可能创造更复杂和定制的用户界面,如数字游戏和软件;即使是可视化编程(如Blockly, GameMaker Studio 2)和数据流语言也需要理解编程和计算概念。就像一般人在纸上勾画用户界面(UI)或用文字描述它一样简单,我相信他们应该很容易创建包含所有期望行为的实际数字UI。编程不应该成为创造新事物并与世界分享的障碍。
{"title":"Creating Interactive User Interfaces by Demonstration using Crowdsourcing","authors":"Rebecca Krosnick","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506507","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506507","url":null,"abstract":"People are becoming increasingly interested in creating their own digital content and media. This is evident in the enormous number of blogs, personal websites, and portfolios available online. Website templates and creation/hosting services (e.g., Wix, WordPress, Google Sites) have made it possible for even non-programmers to create websites. However, with these services, non-programmers are limited to templates or basic user interface elements and behaviors, lacking the ability to create truly custom web pages that satisfy their needs. More complex and custom user interfaces like digital games and software are virtually impossible for non-programmers to create; even visual programming (e.g., Blockly, GameMaker Studio 2) and data flow languages that try to make computing more approachable still require an understanding of programming and computing concepts. As simple as it is for the average person to sketch a User Interface (UI) on paper or describe it in words, I believe it should be just as easy for them to create the actual digital UI with all of the desired behaviors. Programming should not be a barrier to creating new things and sharing them with the world.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127498828","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506571
C. Schulze, Gregor Hoops, R. V. Hanxleden
Sequence diagrams belong to the most commonly used UML diagrams. There is research on desirable aesthetics, but to our knowledge no layout algorithms have been published. This might be due to the rigid specification of sequence diagrams that seems to make laying them out quite easy. However, as we argue here, naive algorithms do not always produce desirable solutions. We present methods to produce compact layouts which we have implemented in a layout algorithm and evaluate them with 50 real-world sequence diagrams.
{"title":"Automatic Layout and Label Management for Compact UML Sequence Diagrams","authors":"C. Schulze, Gregor Hoops, R. V. Hanxleden","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506571","url":null,"abstract":"Sequence diagrams belong to the most commonly used UML diagrams. There is research on desirable aesthetics, but to our knowledge no layout algorithms have been published. This might be due to the rigid specification of sequence diagrams that seems to make laying them out quite easy. However, as we argue here, naive algorithms do not always produce desirable solutions. We present methods to produce compact layouts which we have implemented in a layout algorithm and evaluate them with 50 real-world sequence diagrams.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121142851","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506554
G. Fitzpatrick
The topic of Human-Adaptive Socio-Technical Systems - requiring human-centered concepts, languages and methods to specify system behavior and to model human behavior - is increasingly important as these systems become complexly entangled in everyday lives and contexts.
{"title":"Mind the gap: Modelling the human in human-centric computing","authors":"G. Fitzpatrick","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506554","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506554","url":null,"abstract":"The topic of Human-Adaptive Socio-Technical Systems - requiring human-centered concepts, languages and methods to specify system behavior and to model human behavior - is increasingly important as these systems become complexly entangled in everyday lives and contexts.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130976888","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506517
Jane Hsieh, Michael Xieyang Liu, B. Myers, A. Kittur
Programmers consistently engage in cognitively demanding tasks such as sense making and decision-making. During the information-foraging process, programmers are growing more reliant on resources available online since they contain masses of crowdsourced information and are easier to navigate. Content available in questions and answers on Stack Overflow presents a unique platform for studying the types of problems encountered in programming and possible solutions. In addition to classifying these questions, we introduce possible visual representations for organizing the gathered information and propose that such models may help reduce the cost of navigating, understanding and choosing solution alternatives.
{"title":"An Exploratory Study of Web Foraging to Understand and Support Programming Decisions","authors":"Jane Hsieh, Michael Xieyang Liu, B. Myers, A. Kittur","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506517","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506517","url":null,"abstract":"Programmers consistently engage in cognitively demanding tasks such as sense making and decision-making. During the information-foraging process, programmers are growing more reliant on resources available online since they contain masses of crowdsourced information and are easier to navigate. Content available in questions and answers on Stack Overflow presents a unique platform for studying the types of problems encountered in programming and possible solutions. In addition to classifying these questions, we introduce possible visual representations for organizing the gathered information and propose that such models may help reduce the cost of navigating, understanding and choosing solution alternatives.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128957878","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506556
Kyle Thayer, Philip J. Guo, Katharina Reinecke
People around the world are learning to code using online resources. However, research has found that these learners might not gain equal benefit from such resources, in particular because culture may affect how people learn from and use online resources. We therefore expect to see cultural differences in how people use and benefit from visual debuggers. We investigated the use of one popular online debugger which allows users to execute Python code and navigate bidirectionally through the execution using forward-steps and back-steps. We examined behavioral logs of 78,369 users from 69 countries and conducted an experiment with 522 participants from 82 countries. We found that people from countries that tend to prefer self-directed learning (such as those from countries with a low Power Distance, which tend to be less hierarchical than others) used about twice as many back-steps. We also found that for individuals whose values aligned with instructor-directed learning (those who scored high on a “Conservation” scale), back-steps were associated with less debugging success.
{"title":"The Impact of Culture on Learner Behavior in Visual Debuggers","authors":"Kyle Thayer, Philip J. Guo, Katharina Reinecke","doi":"10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506556","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VLHCC.2018.8506556","url":null,"abstract":"People around the world are learning to code using online resources. However, research has found that these learners might not gain equal benefit from such resources, in particular because culture may affect how people learn from and use online resources. We therefore expect to see cultural differences in how people use and benefit from visual debuggers. We investigated the use of one popular online debugger which allows users to execute Python code and navigate bidirectionally through the execution using forward-steps and back-steps. We examined behavioral logs of 78,369 users from 69 countries and conducted an experiment with 522 participants from 82 countries. We found that people from countries that tend to prefer self-directed learning (such as those from countries with a low Power Distance, which tend to be less hierarchical than others) used about twice as many back-steps. We also found that for individuals whose values aligned with instructor-directed learning (those who scored high on a “Conservation” scale), back-steps were associated with less debugging success.","PeriodicalId":444336,"journal":{"name":"2018 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)","volume":"61 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134540066","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 : 2018-10-01DOI: 10.1109/vlhcc.2018.8506546
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