Value Trace Problems for Code Reading Study of JavaScript Programming

Abstract

JavaScript programming takes critical roles in developing web application systems. Unfortunately, JavaScript programming is not fully educated in most universities, although its study may not be easy for students since the code is usually made by special composing styles. To assist self-study of JavaScript programming, currently, we are developing JavaScript programming learning assistant system (JSPLAS) by extending our JPLAS works for Java programming. In JPLAS, the value trace problem (VTP) is offered for code reading study by novice students. A VTP instance consists of a source code and a set of questions, where each question asks the actual value of an important variable or an output message in the source code. The correctness of any answer is marked through string matching with the correct one. In this paper, we study the VTP for code reading study of JavaScript programming. We generate 57 instances using source codes on basic grammar concepts and confirm the effectiveness through applications to 45 university students in Myanmar and Japan.