Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

Position Paper: Lack of Keyboard Support Cripples Block-Based Programming

Brown, Neil C. C., Kölling, Michael, Altadmri, Amjad (2016) Position Paper: Lack of Keyboard Support Cripples Block-Based Programming. In: 2015 IEEE Blocks and Beyond Workshop (Blocks and Beyond). . pp. 59-61. IEEE E-ISBN 978-1-4673-8367-7. (doi:10.1109/BLOCKS.2015.7369003) (KAR id:50383)

Abstract

Block-based programming is very popular with beginners, but it has failed to gain traction among intermediate and expert programmers. The mouse-centric interfaces typically found in block-based programming environments make edit interactions (especially in large programs) tedious and awkward. We propose that adding keyboard support is a key step to extending the applicability of block-based programming ideas and would allow their use by intermediate and expert programmers, extending some of their benefits to new user groups. We describe an implementation of this idea, `frame-based programming', which leads to a number of benefits in error avoidance and edit efficiency.

Item Type: Conference or workshop item (Paper)
DOI/Identification number: 10.1109/BLOCKS.2015.7369003
Subjects: Q Science > QA Mathematics (inc Computing science) > QA 76 Software, computer programming,
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences > School of Computing
Depositing User: Neil Brown
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2015 11:21 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Dec 2022 04:40 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/50383 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Brown, Neil C. C..

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Kölling, Michael.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:

Altadmri, Amjad.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.