Learn to program without the use of syntax : Examining the ability to learn programming through visual programming

Sammanfattning

As our society becomes more digitalized, the need for programmers is increasing. There are multiple schools world wide who have started implementing programming classes at early ages for their students. These classes are mostly taught using visual programming.Having the correct tools to teach programming in an introductory manner is of utmost importance, which visual programming can provide for the students.When novices start learning programming, the initial struggle for them is to master the aspects of syntax. Visual programming removes the aspect of syntax and focuses on teaching the students core concepts of programming. This is the problem that this project focuses on; The ability for novices to learn programming through visual blocks instead of syntax. The problem was approached with user testing of a game created, where the users solve puzzles using visual programming. Using the data from the user tests, evaluations and conclusions are drawn to whether visual programming is more beneficial for learning core programming concepts than syntax programming is.