TY - GEN
T1 - The Novice Programmers' Syndrome of Design-by-Keyword
AU - Ginat, David
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - In the course of reading the description of a given assignment, it is natural that associations with design patterns directly tied to explicit keywords or phrases in the assignment text will evolve. However, explicit keywords may not always be the basis for the desired solution. Implicit cues may yield a better outcome. This paper presents a study of novice programmers who are misguided by explicit keyword associations. The study shows that students' tendency to "design-by-keyword" may sometime lead them to incorrect or inefficient programming solutions. The study displays student solutions to three CS1 problems, each answered in three different ways. The first two ways reflect undesirable "design-by-keyword" outcomes, and the third way encloses the desired solution, which demonstrates the importance of looking for implicit cues.
AB - In the course of reading the description of a given assignment, it is natural that associations with design patterns directly tied to explicit keywords or phrases in the assignment text will evolve. However, explicit keywords may not always be the basis for the desired solution. Implicit cues may yield a better outcome. This paper presents a study of novice programmers who are misguided by explicit keyword associations. The study shows that students' tendency to "design-by-keyword" may sometime lead them to incorrect or inefficient programming solutions. The study displays student solutions to three CS1 problems, each answered in three different ways. The first two ways reflect undesirable "design-by-keyword" outcomes, and the third way encloses the desired solution, which demonstrates the importance of looking for implicit cues.
KW - Pedagogy
KW - Program Design
KW - Student Errors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=1542347888&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/961511.961554
DO - 10.1145/961511.961554
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontobookanthology.conference???
AN - SCOPUS:1542347888
SN - 1581136722
SN - 9781581136722
T3 - Proceedings of the Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiSCE)
SP - 154
EP - 157
BT - Proceedings of the 8th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2003)
A2 - Finkel, D.
PB - Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
T2 - Proceedings of the 8th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE 2003)
Y2 - 30 June 2003 through 2 July 2003
ER -