Abstract
As the global economy's demand for computer applications soars, the demand for well-trained computer science (CS) professionals is rising. This trend fuels a surge in CS undergraduate degree production, which, in turn, puts a strain on departmental resources. In addition, CS departments have to contend with high dropout and failure rates, fragile learning, and bimodal outcomes [1]. Thus, the need for effective teaching techniques in CS education is more significant than ever. Some concepts and skills in CS are challenging to acquire, such as analyzing the running time of short pieces of code and, particularly, computing the running time of loops. Most instructors use a trace-sum-approximate flow chart to teach students how to analyze the running time of code. The two most essential skills in this analysis process are the tracing of code and the approximation of the sum of different number patterns, e.g., the sum of the linear number pattern 1+2+3+...+n is equal to n*(n+1)/2, and it is approximated to O(n^2). Novice programmers struggle with both these essential skills. Visual systems have been recognized to improve students' understanding of these concepts.Several tools have been developed to assist students with running time analysis. Existing tools are targeted at students with more advanced training, such as a background in advanced data structures or experience with code tracing and approximation of the sum of different number patterns. However, none of the existing tools teach students how to compute the running time at the introductory level, and this gap presented a unique opportunity for us. In this project, you will get to implement a visualizer for runtime analysis as a VSCode extension. For more details, see here:
georgianahaldeman.github.io/files/ravic_submission.docx.pdf