Iconic Vs. Text Based Programming In The Introductory Programming Sequence
H. Paul Haiduk, Donald J. Bagert, Ben A. Calloni · 2020
Research has been undertaken to evaluate the effectiveness of using iconic (as opposed to visual) programming environments in teaching the first two computer programming courses.The authors have developed a Windows-based iconic programming language named BACCII, which allows the user to program with icons representing all the major programming constructs and data structures within a syntax-directed environment.The user can then generate syntactically correct code for any one of several text-based languages such as C++ and Pascal.More recently, work on adding object-oriented extensions to BACCII for use in the data structures/object-oriented programming (CS2) course was undertaken, resulting in BACCII++.Recent research involving BACCII had included the development of a complete set of course materials for the use of BACCII++ in teaching both CS1 and CS2 using C++.Laboratory courseware, tutorials and other materials were developed.An experiment, addressing the question "Can icon-based programming languages be used to teach first-year programming concepts to undergraduate students more effectively than text-based languages?", is being run using the new teaching materials at Texas Tech during the 1995-96 school year.Future research hopes to extend this program to series of pilot programs at other institutions.