Teaching Binary Tree Algorithms through Visual Programming (1996)
| Venue: | In: Proceedings of the 12thIEEE Symposium on Visual Languages IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA |
BibTeX
@INPROCEEDINGS{Il96teachingbinary,
author = {Amir Micha Il and Amir Michail},
title = {Teaching Binary Tree Algorithms through Visual Programming},
booktitle = {In: Proceedings of the 12thIEEE Symposium on Visual Languages IEEE Computer Society Press, Los Alamitos, CA},
year = {1996},
pages = {38--45},
publisher = {IEEE}
}
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Abstract
In this paper, we show how visual programming can be used to teach binary tree algorithms. In our approach, the student implements a binary tree algorithm by manipulating abstract tree fragments (not necessarily just single nodes) in a visual way. This work contributes to visual programming research by combining elements of animation, programming, and proof to produce an educational visual programming tool. In addition, we introduce Opsis, a system we built to demonstrate the ideas in this paper. (Opsis is a Java applet and can be accessed at http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/amir/Opsis.html.) We describe our experience with using Opsis in a data structures and algorithms course at the University of Washington. Finally, we make the claim that visual programming is an ideal way to teach data structure algorithms. 1 Introduction The idea of using computers to teach algorithms is not new; computer animations are used to illustrate many algorithms. Although one might gain insight from w...
