An Analysis on a Learning Support System for Tracing in Beginner's Debugging

We are developing a debugging support system called DESUS which guides tracing for beginners of programming. The tracing is one of tactical plans for programming, and it is an important skill for beginners as well as experts, because tracing make learners to understand the behavior of their programs. We collected learner's programs every time they were compiled during debugging by using DESUS in actual classes, and analyzed the data of how learners use and study tracing and other three kinds of tactical plans. As a result, we found that learners cannot use tracing without DESUS's support, while they can use other tactical plans without support. We also discuss effects of the system on learning tracing.