Teaching and Learning Programming and Software Engineering via Interactive Gaming Tao Xie University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign In collaboration with Nikolai Tillmann, Jonathan de Halleux, and Judith Bishop (Microsoft Research) secret Related Papers/Resources:
Testing Tool Educational Gaming Dynamic Symbolic Execution (Pex) secret Pex for Fun: Interactive Gaming for Teaching and Learning Support
Agenda Background Coding Duels Educational Platform Experiences Conclusion
Agenda Background Coding Duels Educational Platform Experiences Conclusion
Dynamic Symbolic Execution (DSE) aka. Concolic Testing [Godefroid et al. 05][Sen et al. 05][Tillmann et al. 08] Instrument code to explore feasible paths Background
void CoverMe(int[] a) { if (a == null) return; if (a.Length > 0) if (a[0] == ) throw new Exception("bug"); } a.Length>0 a[0]==123… T F T F F a==null T Constraints to solve a!=null a!=null && a.Length>0 a!=null && a.Length>0 && a[0]== Input null {} {0} {123…} Execute&Monitor Solve Choose next path Observed constraints a==null a!=null && !(a.Length>0) a==null && a.Length>0 && a[0]!= a==null && a.Length>0 && a[0]== Done: There is no path left. Dynamic Symbolic Execution in Pex
Coding Duels 1,463,179 clicked 'Ask Pex!'
Coding Duels Pex computes “semantic diff” in cloud secret reference implementation vs. code written in browser You win when Pex finds no differences secret For more info, see our ICSE 2013 SEE paper:
Behind the Scene of Pex for Fun Secret Implementation class Secret { public static int Puzzle(int x) { if (x <= 0) return 1; return x * Puzzle(x-1); } Player Implementation class Player { public static int Puzzle(int x) { return x ; } class Test { public static void Driver(int x) { if (Secret.Puzzle(x) != Player.Puzzle(x)) throw new Exception(“Mismatch”); } behavior Secret Impl == Player Impl 10
Coding Duels Fun and Engaging Iterative gameplay Adaptive Personalized No cheating Clear winning criterion
Social Experience Community High score lists, leaderboard Live feed
Agenda Background Coding Duels Educational Platform Experiences Conclusion
Teaching and Learning
Skills Being Trained Induction Problem solving/debugging Program understanding/programming Testing Specification writing
Coding Duels for Course Software Engineering Course Observed Benefits Automatic Grading Real-time Feedback (for Both Students and Teachers) Fun Learning Experiences
Coding Duel
Example User Feedback “It really got me *excited*. The part that got me most is about spreading interest in teaching CS: I do think that it’s REALLY great for teaching | learning!” “I used to love the first person shooters and the satisfaction of blowing away a whole team of Noobies playing Rainbow Six, but this is far more fun.” “I’m afraid I’ll have to constrain myself to spend just an hour or so a day on this really exciting stuff, as I’m really stuffed with work.” Released since 2010 X
Usage Scenarios of Pex4Fun Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) Course assignments (students/professionals) Student/professional competitions Assessment of testing, programming, problem solving skills for job applicants
Code Hunt: Resigned As Game
End-User Programming On Mobile Devices V.S. TouchDevelop: Bring your own devices, program anywhere, run immediately on devices 21
TouchDevelop 22
TouchDevelop 23
TouchDevelop 24
TouchDevelop 25
Simple script language – No user-defined type – No class inheritance Rich API support – Easy access to various sensors and resources Powerful cloud services – Download/publish scripts – Store information of entities (e.g., scripts, users) – Answer queries TouchDevelop cont. 26 Full-fledged platform for EUP on Mobile Devices
Rapid Increase of TouchDevelop Popularity 27 Oct 2013 vs scripts Feb 2013
Summary: Testing Tool Educational Gaming DSE/Pex secret Pex for Fun: Interactive Gaming for Teaching and Learning Support
Testing Tool Educational Gaming secret Support Related Papers/Resources: Q & A Thank you! Contact:
Summary: Testing Tool Educational Gaming DSE/Pex secret Pex for Fun: Interactive Gaming for Teaching and Learning Support