Simultaneous multiple representation editing environment for primary school education

The use of spreadsheets in industry is widespread. It is known that spreadsheets have an average life span of five years, and during this life span, they are used on average by thirteen different persons. Consequently, spreadsheets need maintenance, and knowledge about the spreadsheet needs to be transferred from one user to another. To minimize the risk of introducing new errors, a thorough understanding of the spreadsheet's formulas is needed during maintenance and knowledge transfer tasks.Research on the use of block-based languages has shown that they positively affect the comprehension of program code. We hypothesize that using a block-based representation of a spreadsheet formula will positively affect formula comprehension.Hence, we extended XLBlocks, a block-based formula editor for spreadsheets, with the functionality to generate a block-based representation of an existing formula. We conduct a think-aloud study with twenty-one experienced spreadsheet users from industry and ask them to perform a set of spreadsheet comprehension tasks using XLBlocks. During an interview, we ask them, using the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework, to reflect on the use of XLBlocks.We found that participants preferred to use the block-based representation of formulas when analyzing or explaining formulas or to implement non-trivial changes. Named function parameters and the absence of parentheses and commas make functions easier to understand. Furthermore, the visualization enables the user to separate smaller parts in the formula, which improves comprehension. Finally, the possibility to navigate from formula to formula makes it clear how formulas work together and improve the understanding of the spreadsheet as a whole.

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“…Inspired by the work of Leber et. al [47], Figure 10 shows an example of how this could be implemented in XLBlocks.…”

Section: Intermediate Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of a Block-based Language on Formula Comprehension in Spreadsheets

Jansen

Hermans

2021

2021 IEEE/ACM 29th International Conference on Program Comprehension (ICPC)

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“…For the latter, it is not explained in [12] if it results from an interoperation with IntelliJ autocompletion component, which could automate the delivery of such dropdown recommendations for any Java construct. Another system offering dual-mode editing is Poliglot [16], enabling to manipulate blocks and text interchangeably, which with Droplet, also relies on a shared program AST. Framebased editing, introduced in [15], provides a novel way to manipulate program fragments that look essentially as sourcetext with the feel and directness of visually managing block elements.…”

Section: Contribution: Grammarware In Visual Languagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Code-Chips: Interactive Syntax in Visual Programming

Savidis

Agapakis

2022

2022 IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC)

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Visual programming is widely adopted in learning, usually with jigsaw-style blocks that may be freely placed on a canvas. While grammatical correctness is forced by the allowed compositions, syntactic information is not communicated to learners, causing the underlying language grammar to be experientially assimilated. But grammars are crucial for the deeper understanding of languages, since syntax reflects all important semantic aspects and elements. We present a generalpurpose syntax-directed visual editor with syntactic tooltips, accepting as input the grammar of the subject language. It adopts a block-based visual style for program elements. However, contrasting to the typical canvas layout, it supports a row-based grid for spatial organization, enabling newlines and indentation. It also allows users view the production chain of any program element for a better understanding of the language. Our early evaluation findings indicate that such a combination of interactive syntax and visual code blocks is very positively received by learners.

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“…Block-based environments provide a block-based editor, but, we identified that some tools also support a hybrid editor (text and blocks), which means that it is possible to interact with the underlying language either through a blocks editor or text-based editor. Based on this, 69 of the studied tools support a block editor only, while 15 support both blocks and text editor [6,7,12,15,18,20,22,34,40,62,76,77,90,143,164]. The remaining ten tools do not mention it at all.…”

Section: Rq1mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Amphibian [22] Droplet Enable switching between blocks and text. Poliglot [90] Blockly Smooth transition from blocks to text in education. HybridPencilCode [6] PencilCode and Droplet Transition from block to text notation.…”

Section: Name Metatool Topicmentioning

confidence: 99%

DRAFT-What you always wanted to know but could not find about block-based environments

Merino,

Vinju,

Brand

2021

Preprint

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Block-based environments are visual programming environments, which are becoming more and more popular because of their ease of use. The ease of use comes thanks to their intuitive graphical representation and structural metaphors (jigsaw-like puzzles) to display valid combinations of language constructs to the users. Part of the current popularity of block-based environments is thanks to Scratch.As a result they are often associated with tools for children or young learners. However, it is unclear how these types of programming environments are developed and used in general. So we conducted a systematic literature review on block-based environments by studying 152 papers published between 2014 and 2020, and a non-systematic tool review of 32 block-based environments. In particular, we provide a helpful inventory of block-based editors for end-users on different topics and domains. Likewise, we focused on identifying the main components of block-based environments, how they are engineered, and how they are used. This survey should be equally helpful for language engineering researchers and language engineers alike. CCS Concepts: • General and reference → Surveys and overviews; • Software and its engineering → Graphical user interface languages; Visual languages; Integrated and visual development environments.

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Simultaneous multiple representation editing environment for primary school education

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

The Effect of a Block-based Language on Formula Comprehension in Spreadsheets

The Effect of a Block-based Language on Formula Comprehension in Spreadsheets

Code-Chips: Interactive Syntax in Visual Programming

DRAFT-What you always wanted to know but could not find about block-based environments

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