Robot world simulator for java

Bhalalusesa, Rogers (2009) Robot world simulator for java. Masters thesis, University of Kent.

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Abstract

Teaching Introduction to Object Oriented Programming and Java by Visualization is widely being adopted by many institutions. Regardless of the nature of the introduction technique used in java, at later stages, the students will have to develop programs by using editors where they will have to manually write codes. The transition from using Java by visualization to that by directly coding is hard. The jump is so big that when the students have learned Java by visualization they still find it hard to write java code for their own programs. Thus a Mid-point is vital to help the students as they move from Java by visualization to Java Coding. This project introduces a code writer to the java visualization teaching tool known as Robot World Simulator. The code writer will help novice programmers to transition from the learning Java through visualization to java code writing gradually. The Code writer is an interface where students can write Java codes to control the movements of the Robot in the Robot World Simulator and visualize the effects of the code they write without waiting for the program to compile. Students start learning OO concept through visualization and practise code writing by controlling the objects using both code writing and visualization controls before they switch to writing codes completely. The code writer will not only provide assistance when the novice programmers venture into poor programming and make errors but also it will be used side to side with the visualization controls and in that way it will make it possible for the student to transition gradually from visualization to code writing.The work describes the background of the problem of transition from visualization to code writing, before giving an insight on how the development of the Robot World Simulator with code writer was achieved and shows how the code writer can help in transitioning the students from programming by visualization to programming by coding.

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