SupportArr: A Plugin to Comprehend Arrays for Novice Programmers

Abstract

Comprehending arrays in programming is considered as one of the difficult tasks for novice programmers because of the complexity involved in their definition, declaration, and operations. Visualization of data structures and algorithms is a valuable learning aid for novice programmers. However, existing techniques show the visualization of code after compiling the program, rather than during the development process. To address this, we present SupportArr, a tool that helps in the visualization of arrays in C/C++ programming languages. The core idea is to provide an in-built IDE support for novice programmers to visualize the statements in code without executing the program. We conducted a preliminary experiment with 23 novice programmers and got a promising result from 84% of the participants.