Effective compiler error message enhancement for novice programming students
Open accessAbstract
Programming is an essential skill that many computing students are expected to master. However, programming can be difficult to learn. Successfully interpreting compiler error messages (CEMs) is crucial for correcting errors and progressing toward success in programming. Yet these messages are often difficult to understand and pose a barrier to progress for many novices, with struggling students often exhibiting high frequencies of errors, particularly repeated errors. This paper presents a control/intervention study on the effectiveness of enhancing Java CEMs. Results show that the intervention group experienced reductions in the number of overall errors, errors per student, and several repeated error metrics. These results are important as the effectiveness of CEM enhancement has been recently debated. Further, generalizing these results should be possible at least in part, as the control group is shown to be comparable to those in several studies using Java and other languages.
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Although some studies have shown positive effects of rewording messages for novices, in general the evidence for the effectiveness of enhanced compiler error messages is not overwhelming.
“However, although some studies have shown positive effects of rewording messages for novices [9,16], in general the evidence for the effectiveness of enhanced compiler error messages is not overwhelming [7].”
From Using Large Language Models to Enhance Programming Error Messages (2023) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Becker, B. A., Glanville, G., Iwashima, R., McDonnell, C., Goslin, K., & Mooney, C.
- Affiliations
- Dublin Institute of Technology (IE)
- Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (IE)
- Corresponding author
- Becker, Brett A.
- Venue
- Computer Science Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2016-07-02
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 2-3
- Pages
- 148-175
- ISSN
- 0899-3408 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-5175
- OpenAlex
- W2523566863
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 10.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arc.cct.ie
- Locations
- Computer Science Education (publishedVersion)
- CCT Academic research Collection- ARC (submittedVersion)
- Research Repository UCD (University College Dublin) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Teaching and Learning Programming
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Software Engineering Research
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Logic, programming, and type systems
- Keywords
- compiler error messages, novice programmers, coding errors, Java, programming education, error correction, intervention research
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