SIGCSE Virtual 2024
Thu 5 - Sun 8 December 2024
Thu 5 Dec 2024 12:30 - 13:00 at Track 1 - Papers 13: CS1

Despite extensive studies from the software engineering community on how naming practices influence programming behavior, the topic receives little attention in education. Prior work indicated little agreement on good naming because it depends on many factors. Students are told that “naming is important” and “should be meaningful,” yet its practical implementation is rarely discussed and feedback is lacking. The current work presents a dialogic teaching approach focused on teaching a critical reflection on naming practices through five activity types: (A) perceptions and experiences, (B) create names, (C) evaluate through ranking, (D) compare codes, and (E) locate a mistake. We also developed, ran, and analyzed a one-hour workshop, that we present here and share our experiences, leading to recommendations for teachers. Our contribution is twofold: (1) we provide a set of (adaptable) activities and exercises for supporting deliberate naming practices, thereby assisting teachers interested in adopting naming practices into their curriculum; (2) we provide insights regarding the student perspective on naming practices, derived from the activities, revealing potential issues and opportunities in teaching the topic.

Thu 5 Dec

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12:00 - 13:00
Papers 13: CS1Conference at Track 1
12:00
30m
Paper
Variables and Variable Naming in Popular Programming Textbooks for Children and Novices
Conference
Vivian van der Werf Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Sciences, Felienne Hermans Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Marcus Specht Delft University of Technology, Efthimia Aivaloglou Delft University of Technology
12:30
30m
Paper
Promoting Deliberate Naming Practices in Programming Education: A Set of Interactive Educational Activities
Conference
Vivian van der Werf Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Sciences, Felienne Hermans Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Marcus Specht Delft University of Technology, Efthimia Aivaloglou Delft University of Technology