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PVC.js: visualizing C programs on web browsers for novices
Ryosuke Ishizue1, Kazunori Sakamoto1,2,3, Hironori Washizaki1,2,4,5
1Department of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
Heliyon
|April 30, 2020
Summary
PlayVisualizerC.js (PVC.js) enhances C programming education by offering better capability, installability, and usability. This new tool helps novice programmers learn faster and more accurately than existing visualization and debugging tools.
Area of Science:
- Computer Science
- Software Engineering
- Educational Technology
Background:
- Existing program visualization tools for C, like SeeC and Python Tutor (PT), face challenges in capability, installability, and usability.
- These limitations hinder novice programmers' understanding of memory management, dynamic allocation, and I/O operations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce PlayVisualizerC.js (PVC.js), a novel web-based visualization tool designed to address the limitations of current C program visualizers.
- To improve the learning experience for novice C programmers by enhancing tool capability, simplifying installation, and streamlining usability.
Main Methods:
- PVC.js was developed using JavaScript, featuring C language execution functions for in-browser operation.
- The tool offers complete support for dynamic memory allocation, standard input/output (I/O), and file I/O.
- Evaluation involved two experiments comparing PVC.js with SeeC and PT, and assessing its effectiveness against general debugging tools for complex scenarios.
Main Results:
- In the first experiment, students using PVC.js were 1.7 times faster and achieved 19% more correct answers on programming tasks compared to those using SeeC.
- The second experiment demonstrated PVC.js has visualization performance comparable to PT.
- PVC.js proved more effective than general debugging tools for novices in understanding programs with complex control flow and dynamic variable changes.
Conclusions:
- PVC.js effectively overcomes the capability, installability, and usability issues of existing C program visualization tools.
- The tool significantly improves learning efficiency and accuracy for novice programmers.
- PVC.js represents a valuable advancement in educational technology for C language programming.
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