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ABSTRACT

Research has been undertaken to answer the following question: Can icon-based programming languages be used to teach first year programming concepts to undergraduate students more effectively than text-based languages? BACCII++ is an iconic environment developed at Texas Tech University for teaching procedural and object-oriented programming concepts and languages. Course materials were developed and used under experimental conditions during the 1995-96 school year at Texas Tech University, with half using BACCII++ to generate C++ code, and the other half using only C++. For each course in each semester the experiment was run, the sections using BACCII++ did significantly better in overall performance.

REFERENCES

• 1: Calloni, Ben A., An Iconic, Syntax Directed Windows Environment for Teaching Procedural Programming. Master's Thesis, Department of Computer Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX, May 1992.
• 2: CaUoni, Ben A., and Bagert, Donald J. BACCII: An iconic syntax-directed system for teaching procedural programming, Proceedings of the 31st A CM Southeast Conference, Birmingham AL, April 15- 16, 1993, pp. 177-183.
• 3: Ben A. Calloni , Donald J. Bagert, ICONIC programming in BACCII vs. textual programming: which is a better learning environment?, Proceedings of the twenty-fifth SIGCSE symposium on Computer science education, p.188-192, March 10-12, 1994, Phoenix, Arizona, United States
• 4: Ephraim P. Gilnert , Steven L. Tanimoto, PICT: an interactive graphical programming environment, Computer, v.17 n.11, p.7-25, Nov. 1984 [doi>10.1109/MC.1984.1658997]
• 5: Bagert, Donald J., Calloni, Ben A., and Haiduk, H.Paul. Iconic vs. text-based programming in the introductory programming sequence. Proceedings of the ASEE Annual Conference, 23-26 June 1996, Washington DC. (CD-ROM, 6 pp.)
• 6: Roberge, James. Data Structures in C++: A Laboratory Course, Heath Publishing, Lexington MA, 1995.
• 7: David A. Scanlan, Structured Flowcharts Outperform Pseudocode: An Experimental Comparison, IEEE Software, v.6 n.5, p.28-36, September 1989 [doi>10.1109/52.35587]
• 8: Allen B. Tucker , Bruce H. Barnes , Robert M. Aiken , Keith Barker , Kim B. Bruce , J. Thomas Cain , Susan E. Conry , Gerald L. Engel , Richard G. Epstein , Doris K. Lidtke , Michael C. Mulder , Jean B. Rogers , Eugene H. Spafford , A. Joe Turner, Computing curricula 1991: Report of the ACM/IEEE-CS Joint Curriculum Task Force, ACM Press, New York, NY, 1991

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Computer science education

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education
          Subjects: Curriculum

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors, Languages, Management, Measurement, Performance, Theory