VL/HCC 2022
Mon 12 - Fri 16 September 2022 Rome, Italy

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 general-purpose 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.

Tue 13 Sep

Displayed time zone: Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna change

16:00 - 17:30
Session on Block-based Languages & Programming EducationResearch Papers / Journal-First Presentations at San Francesco Room
Chair(s): Cyrus Omar University of Michigan
16:00
30m
Talk
Effects of a Block-Based Scaffolded Tool on Students’ Introduction to Hierarchical Data StructuresJournal-first
Journal-First Presentations
Pedro Feijóo-García University of Florida, Amanpreet Kapoor University of Florida, USA, Christina Gardner-McCune Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA, Eric Ragan
DOI
16:30
30m
Talk
LevelUp - Automatic Assessment of Block-Based Machine Learning Projects for AI EducationFull paper
Research Papers
Tejal Reddy MIT Media Lab, Randi Williams Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cynthia Breazeal Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DOI
17:00
30m
Talk
Code-Chips: Interactive Syntax in Visual ProgrammingFull paper
Research Papers
Anthony Savidis Department of Computer Science, University of Crete and ICS-FORTH, Manos Agapakis Department of Computer Science, University of Crete
DOI