Analyses of Student Programming Errors In Java Programming Courses

Computing students’ difficulties in understanding Java programming provided a practical context for a critical investigation of why this continues to exist. An exploratory study was conducted by Computing department staff at the National University of Samoa to investigate what were the most common errors students made in Java programming classes. Program code from undergraduate Java programming classes were analysed for errors. Errors were categorized and the frequency of occurrence also tabled. Results of the analyses were used to form recommendations to inform course development and improve teaching practices.

[1]  Benedict duBoulay,et al.  Some Difficulties of Learning to Program , 1986 .

[2]  Alireza Ebrahimi,et al.  Novice programmer errors: language constructs and plan composition , 1994, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[3]  David Moursund,et al.  Increasing Your Expertise as a Problem Solver: Some Roles of Computers. Second Edition. , 1996 .

[4]  David H. Jonassen,et al.  Handbook of Research for educational Communications and Technology , 1997 .

[5]  Brad A. Myers,et al.  Usability Issues in the Design of Novice Programming Systems , 1996 .

[6]  Kirsti Ala-Mutka,et al.  A study of the difficulties of novice programmers , 2005, ITiCSE '05.

[7]  Linda Kathryn McIver.  Syntactic and semantic issues in introductory programming education , 2001 .

[8]  Kate Ehrlich,et al.  Empirical Studies of Programming Knowledge , 1984, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.

[9]  Michael C. Loui,et al.  Debugging: from novice to expert , 2004, SIGCSE '04.

[10]  C. Moorehead.  All rights reserved , 1997 .

[11]  Stuart K Garner.  Cognitive load reduction in problem solving domains , 2001 .

[12]  Ramu Naidoo,et al.  Errors made by Students in a Computer Programming Course , 2011 .

[13]  Leon E. Winslow,et al.  Programming pedagogy—a psychological overview , 1996, SGCS.

[14]  Matthew C. Jadud.  A First Look at Novice Compilation Behaviour Using BlueJ , 2005, Comput. Sci. Educ..

[15]  Rebecca T. Mercuri,et al.  Identifying and correcting Java programming errors for introductory computer science students , 2003, SIGCSE.

[16]  Thomas R. Flowers,et al.  Empowering students and building confidence in novice programmers through Gauntlet , 2004, 34th Annual Frontiers in Education, 2004. FIE 2004..

[17]  Eamonn Hyland,et al.  Initial experiences gained and initiatives employed in the teaching of Java programming in the Institute of Technology Tallaght , 2002, PPPJ/IRE.