The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing

Amjad AlAbdullah Alabdullah Altadmri; Michael Kölling; Neil Christopher Charles Brown

doi:10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.204

The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing

Amjad AlAbdullah Alabdullah Altadmri, Michael Kölling, Neil Christopher Charles Brown

Informatics

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper › peer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plain text has always been the predominant medium for writing and editing programs for expert users. Text is powerful and flexible, but requires more careful manipulation than structural editors, such as those found in block-based environments. In addition, in textual editors programmers are responsible for managing detailed orthography and layout – when beginners work with text, significant time is spent managing syntax problems, indentation and spacing. Frame-based editing is a new editing paradigm that combines the structural editing of block-based systems with the flexibility and keyboard-focus of text editing. In this paper, we empirically examine how much time and effort is spent by beginners on managing syntax errors and indentation, which can be automatically saved by switching to frame-based editing. The data is obtained using the Blackbox dataset; the results predict a clear advantage of frame-based editing over traditional text editors.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies
Subtitle of host publication	part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications
Place of Publication	Atlanta
Publisher	IEEE
Number of pages	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.204
Publication status	Published - 25 Aug 2016

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https://kar.kent.ac.uk/54776/1/errors.pdf

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Alabdullah Altadmri, A. A., Kölling, M., & Brown, N. C. C. (2016). The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing. In CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies: part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.204

Alabdullah Altadmri, Amjad AlAbdullah ; Kölling, Michael ; Brown, Neil Christopher Charles. / The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing. CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies: part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications. Atlanta : IEEE, 2016.

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title = "The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing",

abstract = "Plain text has always been the predominant medium for writing and editing programs for expert users. Text is powerful and flexible, but requires more careful manipulation than structural editors, such as those found in block-based environments. In addition, in textual editors programmers are responsible for managing detailed orthography and layout – when beginners work with text, significant time is spent managing syntax problems, indentation and spacing. Frame-based editing is a new editing paradigm that combines the structural editing of block-based systems with the flexibility and keyboard-focus of text editing. In this paper, we empirically examine how much time and effort is spent by beginners on managing syntax errors and indentation, which can be automatically saved by switching to frame-based editing. The data is obtained using the Blackbox dataset; the results predict a clear advantage of frame-based editing over traditional text editors.",

author = "{Alabdullah Altadmri}, {Amjad AlAbdullah} and Michael K{\"o}lling and Brown, {Neil Christopher Charles}",

year = "2016",

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Alabdullah Altadmri, AA , Kölling, M & Brown, NCC 2016, The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing. in CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies: part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications. IEEE, Atlanta. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.204

The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing. / Alabdullah Altadmri, Amjad AlAbdullah ; Kölling, Michael ; Brown, Neil Christopher Charles.
CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies: part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications. Atlanta: IEEE, 2016.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference paper › peer-review

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N2 - Plain text has always been the predominant medium for writing and editing programs for expert users. Text is powerful and flexible, but requires more careful manipulation than structural editors, such as those found in block-based environments. In addition, in textual editors programmers are responsible for managing detailed orthography and layout – when beginners work with text, significant time is spent managing syntax problems, indentation and spacing. Frame-based editing is a new editing paradigm that combines the structural editing of block-based systems with the flexibility and keyboard-focus of text editing. In this paper, we empirically examine how much time and effort is spent by beginners on managing syntax errors and indentation, which can be automatically saved by switching to frame-based editing. The data is obtained using the Blackbox dataset; the results predict a clear advantage of frame-based editing over traditional text editors.

AB - Plain text has always been the predominant medium for writing and editing programs for expert users. Text is powerful and flexible, but requires more careful manipulation than structural editors, such as those found in block-based environments. In addition, in textual editors programmers are responsible for managing detailed orthography and layout – when beginners work with text, significant time is spent managing syntax problems, indentation and spacing. Frame-based editing is a new editing paradigm that combines the structural editing of block-based systems with the flexibility and keyboard-focus of text editing. In this paper, we empirically examine how much time and effort is spent by beginners on managing syntax errors and indentation, which can be automatically saved by switching to frame-based editing. The data is obtained using the Blackbox dataset; the results predict a clear advantage of frame-based editing over traditional text editors.

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Alabdullah Altadmri AA , Kölling M , Brown NCC. The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing. In CELT: COMPSAC Symposium on Computing Education & Learning Technologies: part of COMPSAC 2016: The 40th IEEE Computer Society International Conference on Computers, Software & Applications. Atlanta: IEEE. 2016 Epub 2016 Jun 10. doi: 10.1109/COMPSAC.2016.204

The Cost of Syntax and How To Avoid It: Text versus Frame-Based Editing

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