Lessons in Combining Block-Based and Textual Programming
Abstract
Tiled Grace is a block-based programming system backed by a conventional textual language that allows switching back and forth between block-based and textual editing of the same code at any time. We discuss the design choices of Tiled Grace in light of existing research and a user experiment conducted with it. We also examine the sorts of task preferred in each mode by users who had the choice of editing either as blocks or as text, and find both positive and cautionary notes for block-based programming in the results.
Authors
Michael Homer, James NoblePublished in
Journal of Visual Languages and Sentient Systems (VLSS), Volume 3, 2017The final copy of this publication is available from the publisher.
Resources
- Author copy (PDF)
- Live demo
- Source code
- mwh.nz/pdf/vlss2017
- this page
- mwh.nz/pubs/vlss2017