Jeroo: a tool for introducing object-oriented programming

ABSTRACT

Jeroo is a tool that has been developed to help students in beginning programming courses learn the semantics of fundamental control structures, learn the basic notions of using objects to solve problems, and learn to write methods that support a functional decomposition of the task. Jeroo is similar to Karel the Robot and its descendants, but has a narrower scope than Karel's descendants and has a syntax that provides a smoother transition to either Java or C++. Jeroo has been class tested at Northwest Missouri State University, and has proven to be an effective tool for working with students in a beginning programming class. Jeroo and user documentation are available at http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~sanders/Jeroo/Jeroo.html.

REFERENCES

• 1: Byron Weber Becker, Teaching CS1 with karel the robot in Java, Proceedings of the thirty-second SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer Science Education, p.50-54, February 2001, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
• 2: Joseph Bergin , Jim Roberts , Richard Pattis , Mark Stehlik, Karel++: A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Object-Oriented Programming, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1996
• 3: Bergin J., Stehlik, M., Roberts, J. and Pattis, R. Karel J. Robot: A gentle Introduction to the Art of Object-Oriented Programming in Java, 2002. Online. Internet. Sept. 6, 2002. Available WWW: http://csis.pace.edu/%7Ebergin/KarelJava2ed/Karel++JavaEdition.html
• 4: Duane Buck , David J. Stucki, JKarelRobot: a case study in supporting levels of cognitive development in the computer science curriculum, Proceedings of the thirty-second SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer Science Education, p.16-20, February 2001, Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
• 5: Karel the Robot, 2002. Online. Internet. Sept. 6, 2002. Available WWW: http://math.otterbein.edu/JKarelRobot
• 6: Michael Kölling , John Rosenberg, An object-oriented program development environment for the first programming course, Proceedings of the twenty-seventh SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education, p.83-87, February 15-17, 1996, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• 7: Richard E. Pattis , Jim Roberts , Mark Stehlik, Karel the robot (2nd ed.): a gentle introduction to the art of programming, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, NY, 1995

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
      D.1.5 Object-oriented Programming
  D.3 PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
      D.3.3 Language Constructs and Features
          Subjects: Classes and objects; Procedures, functions, and subroutines; Control structures

General Terms:
Languages

Keywords:
CS1, microworlds, objects-first, pedagogy