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An experience in integrating automated unit testing practices in an introductory programming course

Authors:

Elena García Barriocanal,

Miguel-Ángel Sicilia Urbán,

Ignacio Aedo Cuevas,

Paloma Díaz PérezAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 34, Issue 4

Pages 125 - 128

https://doi.org/10.1145/820127.820183

Published: 01 December 2002 Publication History

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Abstract

Unit testing is one of the core practices in the Extreme Programming lightweight software development method, and it is usually carried out with the help of software frameworks that ease the construction of test cases as an integral part of programming tasks. This work describes our first results in studying the integration of automated unit testing practices in conventional 'introduction to programming' laboratories. Since the work used a classical procedural language in the course's assignments, we had to design a specific testing framework called tpUnit. The results of the experiment points out that a straightforward approach for the integration of unit testing in first-semester courses do not result in the expected outcomes in terms of student's engagement in the practice.

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Aerts K(2024)Improving Students’ Engagement and Learning Outcomes in a Primer Course on Object Oriented Programming in Java.2024 47th MIPRO ICT and Electronics Convention (MIPRO)10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569397(642-647)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569397
Doorn NVos TMarín BBarendsen E(2023)Set the right example when teaching programming: Test Informed Learning with Examples (TILE)2023 IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST)10.1109/ICST57152.2023.00033(269-280)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICST57152.2023.00033
Climent LArbelaez A(2023)Automatic assessment of object oriented programming assignments with unit testing in Python and a real case assignmentComputer Applications in Engineering Education10.1002/cae.2264231:5(1321-1338)Online publication date: 23-May-2023
https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22642
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Index Terms

An experience in integrating automated unit testing practices in an introductory programming course
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Computing education programs
        Computer science education
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software verification and validation
      1. Software defect analysis
        Software testing and debugging

Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.

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Published In

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 34, Issue 4

December 2002

151 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/820127

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 01 December 2002

Published in SIGCSE Volume 34, Issue 4

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Aerts K(2024)Improving Students’ Engagement and Learning Outcomes in a Primer Course on Object Oriented Programming in Java.2024 47th MIPRO ICT and Electronics Convention (MIPRO)10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569397(642-647)Online publication date: 20-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MIPRO60963.2024.10569397
Doorn NVos TMarín BBarendsen E(2023)Set the right example when teaching programming: Test Informed Learning with Examples (TILE)2023 IEEE Conference on Software Testing, Verification and Validation (ICST)10.1109/ICST57152.2023.00033(269-280)Online publication date: Apr-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICST57152.2023.00033
Climent LArbelaez A(2023)Automatic assessment of object oriented programming assignments with unit testing in Python and a real case assignmentComputer Applications in Engineering Education10.1002/cae.2264231:5(1321-1338)Online publication date: 23-May-2023
https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.22642
Zielosko BPrzybyła-Kasperek MChromiński KNowakowski ASmyrnova-Trybulska E(2022)Teaching and Learning Activities Based on the Priscilla ToolMicrolearning10.1007/978-3-031-13359-6_6(91-106)Online publication date: 26-Oct-2022
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Nguyen HLim MMoore SNyberg ESakr MStamper JScheffel MDowell NJoksimovic SSiemens G(2021)Exploring Metrics for the Analysis of Code Submissions in an Introductory Data Science CourseLAK21: 11th International Learning Analytics and Knowledge Conference10.1145/3448139.3448209(632-638)Online publication date: 12-Apr-2021
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Calatrava Arroyo ARamos Montes MSegrelles Quilis J(2020)A Pilot Experience with Software Programming Environments as a Service for Teaching ActivitiesApplied Sciences10.3390/app1101034111:1(341)Online publication date: 31-Dec-2020
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Scatalon LGarcia RBarbosa E(2020)Teaching Practices of Software Testing in Programming Education2020 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE44824.2020.9274256(1-9)Online publication date: 21-Oct-2020
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Kangas VPirttinen NNygren HLeinonen JHellas AZhang MYang BCooper SLuxton-Reilly A(2019)Does Creating Programming Assignments with Tests Lead to Improved Performance in Writing Unit Tests?Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Global Computing Education10.1145/3300115.3309516(106-112)Online publication date: 9-May-2019
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Kazerouni AShaffer CEdwards SServant FHawthorne EPérez-Quiñones MHeckman SZhang J(2019)Assessing Incremental Testing Practices and Their Impact on Project OutcomesProceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education10.1145/3287324.3287366(407-413)Online publication date: 22-Feb-2019
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Hong GYao JMichael CPhillips L(2018)A multilingual and comparative approach to teaching introductory computer programmingJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/3199572.319957333:4(4-12)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2018
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