Strengths and weaknesses of a visual programming language in a learning context with children

Sammanfattning: In a world where computers are a part of most people's everyday life, learning how to instruct one to perform time consumingand/or complex tasks is beneficial. Visual programming languages aim to make the experience for people programmingcomputers the best it can be by bypassing some of the issues of syntax and translation from mental plan to executable program. However, text-based languages come out on top when it comes to the programming languages most used. This paper aims at finding the strengths and weaknesses of teaching a visual programming language to novices in order to contribute to the otherwise lacking empirical evidence within the field of teaching computer programming. The methods used in order to collect data and answer the research question took inspiration from methods used in ethnomethodology. These methods were: observation through participation within a group of programming novices and semi-structured interviews with programming tutors. What can be seen from the study is that visual programming languages offer a quick introduction to the world of programming that in many ways plays down the difficulties within the area by making programming playful and creative. On the other hand, the boundaries of the language are quickly reached and require the students to switch to a text based language. Also, the visual programming language did not help the students learn how to plan and troubleshoot theirprograms. When progressing to a text-based programming language where planning and troubleshooting are required steps ofthe process this may become troublesome.