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Jinter: A Hint Generation System for Java Exercises

Authors:

Jorge A. Gonçalves,

André L. SantosAuthors Info & Claims

ITiCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1

Pages 375 - 381

https://doi.org/10.1145/3587102.3588820

Published: 30 June 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Programming novices often struggle when solving exercises, slowing down progress and causing a dependency on external aid such as a teacher, a more experienced person, or online resources. We present Jinter, a tool to generate hints to solve small exercises involving Java methods. The hints are produced taking into account the current state of an exercise and a backing model solution. The aid may refer to spotting errors or missing parts to achieve the desired outcome while taking into account behavioral equivalences of programming constructs (e.g., loop structures, forms of assignment, boolean expressions, etc). We evaluated the approach by surveying 8 programming instructors, finding that about two-thirds of the automated hints either match or are related to those given by instructors.

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Cited By

Van Praet LHoobergs JSchrijvers THermans FBohrer R(2024)ASSIST: Automated Feedback Generation for Syntax and Logical Errors in Programming ExercisesProceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E10.1145/3689493.3689981(66-76)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689493.3689981

Index Terms

Jinter: A Hint Generation System for Java Exercises
1. Applied computing
  1. Education
    1. Computer-assisted instruction
2. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education

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Information

Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

ITiCSE 2023: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education V. 1

June 2023

694 pages

ISBN:9798400701382

DOI:10.1145/3587102

General Chairs:
Mikko-Jussi Laakso
University of Turku, Finland
,
Mattia Monga
University of Milan, Italy
,
Program Chairs:
Simon
Unaffiliated, Australia
,
Judithe Sheard
Monash University, Australia

Copyright © 2023 ACM.

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SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 30 June 2023

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Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia

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ITiCSE 2023

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SIGCSE

ITiCSE 2023: Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education

July 7 - 12, 2023

Turku, Finland

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Overall Acceptance Rate 552 of 1,613 submissions, 34%

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Cited By

Van Praet LHoobergs JSchrijvers THermans FBohrer R(2024)ASSIST: Automated Feedback Generation for Syntax and Logical Errors in Programming ExercisesProceedings of the 2024 ACM SIGPLAN International Symposium on SPLASH-E10.1145/3689493.3689981(66-76)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3689493.3689981

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