Feature of an algorithm or program visualization system that refers to its support to create or use visualizations in a course without much effort from the instructor’s perspective.
Published in Chapter:
Web-Based Algorithm and Program Visualization for Education
Cristóbal Pareja-Flores (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain), Jaime Urquiza-Fuentes (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain), and J. Ángel Velázquez Iturbide (Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Spain)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 6
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-026-4.ch654
Abstract
Probably, the most common use of the Web for programming courses is as a communication medium, facilitating submission and administration of assignments and grades (Burd, 2000). Another common use of the Web for programming education is as a public repository of high quality problems, such as the Lab Repository (Knox, 2006) and the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (Skiena & Revilla, 2003). Web sites may also host other resources, such as slides and audio lectures (Skiena & Revilla, 2003), algorithm animations (Brummond, 2001), or programming tools (English, 2001). These collections have no structure or, at best, are lineally or hierarchically structured, but more advanced repositories are possible. In this case, a management system must be delivered that, using (semi)structured mark-up languages, allows retrieving, maintaining, and publishing. A good representative is the eXercita system (Gregorio-Rodríguez et al., 2000, 2002). Finally, programming tools have been ported to be executed on the Web (Pareja-Flores & Velázquez-Iturbide, 2002). This article describes a different class of Web-based tools for programming education, namely tools for algorithm and program visualization. After the Background section, we describe the evolution of these systems, educational uses, and lessons learned. Finally, we outline future trends in the use of the Web for programming education and our personal conclusions.