The impact on student performance of a change of language in successive introductory computer programming subjects

In 1998, in two consecutive introductory computer programming subjects, the implementation language changed from C++ to Java, in semester 1 for the first subject and semester 2 for the second subject 70% of students in the second subject had no previous exposure to Java mainly because of exemptions and part-time study mode course structure. Performance of the two groups was compared with final results from the years 1992 to 1997. No significant difference was found in the students who took Java at the first level. Although only slightly poorer, the reduced performance of the other group suggested that additional measures were required to assist their transition. Acquisition of object-oriented concepts and design approaches appeared to be the major source of difficulty. A number of compensatory measures were recommended including use of a language independent object-oriented design text and additional Java programming worked exercise.