Evaluation of an Automatic Generation System for Tracing Tasks Based on Textbook Programs

Abstract

In programming education, it is important not only to create programs but also to reflect on the created programs in order to understand them more deeply. To that end, the authors developed a system that automatically generates tracing tasks from input programs. In this study, we used programs from a textbook as input in order to confirm that the automatic problem and feedback generation system can generate tracing tasks automatically without any problems. The results of the experiment showed that the system was able to automatically generate tracing tasks from 53.85% of the input program elements, and it was confirmed that functions such as 'for' and 'if' statements as well as assignments to variables were supported without issue. However, orthodox syntax and functions such as 'while' and 'switch' statements, as well as batch assignments to structures and arrays, were not correctly implemented, so it will be necessary to correct these implementations in the future.