Dear Linda,
You have been given so many references, I hate to (but will) add more on to the pile. You might have a look at Ko and Myers article on errors in programming systems. It is not directly concerned with error messages, but it is interested in supporting use in programming environments. I believe this piece was seminal for Ko, leading to the development of the Whyline. Ko, A. J., & Myers, B. A. (2005). A framework and methodology for studying the causes of software errors in programming systems. Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, 16(1), 41–84. My own research is concerned with error handling by professional developers in different contexts. I have been looking at how they realise there is an error, and what they do to recover from it. It is most closely aligned to the paper by Traver (http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2010/602570/) noted by Richard O'Keefe, and to the comments given by Luke Church earlier in the thread. One of my studies examined activity at the desk, and I have some findings related to how developers respond to and leverage system responses. I currently have a submission in to VL/HCC that I can pass along to you. It is not your area, but I believe it may be relevant. Best wishes, Tamara On Compiler Error Messages: What They Say and What They Mean<http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2010/602570/> www.hindawi.com Advances in Human-Computer Interaction Volume 2010 (2010), Article ID 602570, 26 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2010/602570 ________________________________ From: ppig-discuss@googlegroups.com <ppig-discuss@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Thomas Green <thosgr...@gmail.com> Sent: 06 April 2016 09:20 To: Linda McIver Cc: PPIG Discuss Subject: Re: [ppig-discuss] Re: Beginner friendly error messages Hi Linda, good to hear your voice. >From way back, see Ben du Boulay's paper "Fatal error in pass zero" on what >not to say to novices : and Mark Eisenstadt co-authored a paper where they >looked at every error report issued to a class of beginners and analysed every >single one. That was in a very simple knowledge representation language called >Solo. Although neither will be directly applicable, the way they reasoned >about novices could be very helpful. Please report your eventual conclusions >or at least a literature review to help fill the gap in knowledge! All the best in this Thomas until further notice: 80 Heworth Road YO31 0AD 07947 002 581 On 6 Apr 2016 05:51, "Linda McIver" <linda.mci...@gmail.com<mailto:linda.mci...@gmail.com>> wrote: Thanks Michael, this looks interesting. Unfortunately my solution must be relatively platform agnostic, so anything reliant on windows is not an option. I'll be interested to explore raptor though. On 6 April 2016 at 11:11, Michael Leverington <mich...@edtech-teched.com<mailto:mich...@edtech-teched.com>> wrote: Hi Linda; As Huw noted, it does depend on what you are trying to teach with the programming language. Martin Carlisle at the US Air Force Academy put together an environment called RAPTOR (http://raptor.martincarlisle.com/) a few years ago. It requires Windows and .NET but it is a powerful and yet friendly programming environment. Most of the Air Force Academy students are not CS majors but they are all required to take a rigorous programming class, and RAPTOR was invented for this. I have seen a respectable PAC-MAN program, music and all, run on this, and I myself use it for a friendly University-level introduction in parallel with foundational discrete structures activities (“Crossing the River with Dogs”). I would also note that I have taught High School, grades 9 – 12, and I think this would work fine for them. You can measure out how far you take them with it (although the hardest thing is holding them back once they get started). That might be a solution if “normal” languages – and their compilers and error messages – are not your friends :). Best, Michael Michael Leverington, Lecturer Dept of Computer Science & Engineering University of Nevada, Reno www.cse.unr.edu/~michael<http://www.cse.unr.edu/~michael> - 775-784-1414<tel:775-784-1414> “There they go and I must hasten to catch up with them for I am their leader” Anonymous On 6 April 2016 at 00:18, Linda McIver <linda.mci...@gmail.com<mailto:linda.mci...@gmail.com>> wrote: Hello PPIGers, I am trying to design a data science course for year 10 students that will be taught to, and in some cases *by* beginners. We'll be using Python both for its data science credentials and its user friendliness, but the error messages are a big barrier to success. Students hit one incomprehensible error message and run screaming in the opposite direction. I recall some research on error messages and their user friendliness, but I still can't find any interpreters with beginner friendly error messages, which surprises me. Am I missing something? Is there a treasure trove somewhere? If not, is there at least some solid research on which we could base the design of a beginner friendly Python interpreter? Any and all clues gratefully received. Linda -- Exploring Life, Parenting and Social Justice: http://lindamciver.wordpress.com/ Computational Science Education: http://computeitsimple.wordpress.com/ Dr Linda McIver Teacher & Freelance Writer -- Buy Fair Trade - Change the world one coffee at a time -- -- Exploring Life, Parenting and Social Justice: http://lindamciver.wordpress.com/ Computational Science Education: http://computeitsimple.wordpress.com/ Dr Linda McIver Teacher & Freelance Writer -- Buy Fair Trade - Change the world one coffee at a time -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PPIG Discuss" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ppig-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:ppig-discuss+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. 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