AN AUTOMATED CONTINUOUS FEEDBACK ENVIRONMENT FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING

Abstract

Software programming is an experimental andcreative activity, requiring constant trial and error sessions.Teaching software programming to engineering studentswith no prior experience requires constant feedback, notonly in formal aspects such as syntax, but also on otherssuch as design and testing techniques. Usually this feedbackexceeds class and professor assisted lab time. This paperproposes an automated software testing environment –basedon Test Driven Development techniques - to complementprofessor-student interaction, which would allow students toreceive continuous feedback of their progress beyond thesimple feedback of the compiler.Index Terms ⎯  Computer science education, teachingsoftware programming, test driven evaluation.