To address the difficulties associated with computer programming, this article first looks at some reasons why students, especially engineering students, find programming such a daunting prospect, and it proposes a programming learning tool managed by a Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA). The DFA machine used a graphical environment provided by Simulink to teach the FORmula TRANslator (FORTRAN) programming language to science students.The proposed programming learning tool and the traditional method of teaching were compared and evaluated. The results of evaluation indicated that there was an improvement in learning effectiveness of the proposed learning tool.
Aim/Purpose: The study examined types of errors made by novice programmers in different Java concepts with students of different ability levels in programming as well as the perceived causes of such errors.
Background: To improve code writing and debugging skills, efforts have been made to taxonomize programming errors and their causes. However, most of the studies employed omnibus approaches, i.e. without consideration of different programing concepts and ability levels of the trainee programmers. Such concepts and ability specific errors identification and classifications are needed to advance appropriate intervention strategy.
Methodology: A sequential exploratory mixed method design was adopted. The sample was an intact class of 124 Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate students grouped into three achievement levels based on first semester performance in a Java programming course. The submitted codes in the course of second semester exercises were analyzed for possible errors, categorized and grouped across achievement level. The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as Pearson product correlation coefficient. Qualitative analyses through interviews and focused group discussion (FGD) were also employed to identify reasons for the committed errors.
Contribution:The study provides a useful concept-based and achievement level specific error log for the teaching of Java programming for beginners.
Findings: The results identified 598 errors with Missing symbols (33%) and Invalid symbols (12%) constituting the highest and least committed errors respec-tively. Method and Classes concept houses the highest number of errors (36%) followed by Other Object Concepts (34%), Decision Making (29%), and Looping (10%). Similar error types were found across ability levels. A significant relationship was found between missing symbols and each of Invalid symbols and Inappropriate Naming. Errors made in Methods and Classes were also found to significantly predict that of Other Object concepts.
Recommendations for Practitioners: To promote better classroom practice in the teaching of Java programming, findings for the study suggests instructions to students should be based on achievement level. In addition to this, learning Java programming should be done with an unintelligent editor.
Recommendations for Researchers: Research could examine logic or semantic errors among novice programmers as the errors analyzed in this study focus mainly on syntactic ones.
Impact on Society: The digital age is code-driven, thus error analysis in programming instruction will enhance programming ability, which will ultimately transform novice programmers into experts, particularly in developing countries where most of the software in use is imported.
Future Research: Researchers could look beyond novice or beginner programmers as codes written by intermediate or even advanced programmers are still not often completely error free.
Cloud computing is a new model for delivering new applications and services. Its adoption is gaining ground because most of the services provided by the cloud are of low cost and readily available for use. Despite many promises by the cloud service providers, users remain much concerned about the general risk associated with the adoption of the cloud. The availability of many cloud service providers on one hand promotes competition in the cloud market and gives end users more freedom to choose the best cloud provider however it became a tedious and time consuming task for potential cloud users to evaluate and compare the available cloud offerings in the market. Hence, discovering a reliable service is a daunting task. This research proposed a trustworthy model for reliable cloud service discovery.
Executive SummaryThis study presents a cost effective, reliable, and convenient mobile web-based system to facilitate the dissemination of course information to students, to support interaction that goes beyond the classroom. The system employed the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) technology and was developed using Rapid Application Development (RAD) methodology. The design of the system was modeled using Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams, while its implementation was done using Java Micro Edition (JME) and "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" (PHP).A simulation technique was used to evaluate the proposed system performance by comparing the approach used in its design to one adopted in a similar study, using response time and bandwidth consumption as metrics. The results obtained revealed that the performance of the proposed syndication system was better. Similarly, an experiment to investigate the students' perception of the system was conducted, with students' responses revealing a tremendous success of this project.
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